MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Jack Chalmers was wrapping up the third grade without a bicycle.
The 8-year-old’s Spider-Man bike was stolen from outside his home.
Kristin McGee, a PE teacher at Mountlake Terrace Elementary, overheard Jack telling the story. It was good timing. School officials had been approached by local police who were looking for a kid who needed a bike.
Their efforts had taken a bit of a turn. Another boy’s bike was stolen not long before the theft at Jack’s house. The Mountlake Terrace Police Officer Association, a nonprofit that supports law enforcement and community service, arranged to replace the first boy’s bike.
Bikes often are found and turned into the police station. If they aren’t claimed, they are sent to a repair shop at the Monroe Correctional Complex, detective Heidi Froisland said. The officer’s association secured a bike from the shop and also bought a helmet and a bike lock to give to the first boy.
Then, that boy’s bike was recovered.
“We needed another kid about the same size,” Froisland said.
She had helped with a bike assembly at Mountlake Terrace Elementary a few years back. She called the principal.
“I knew he’d find someone, and they got right back to me,” she said.
The theft wasn’t the only challenge faced by the Chalmers family. They recently had to move to Monroe on short notice although he still goes to school in Mountlake Terrace. Jack’s mother, Heather Chalmers, provides full-time care for his 3-year-old brother Luke, who has autism.
Jack is an active boy but also kind and thoughtful, his mother said.
“He is super brainy. He just doesn’t know how to channel that energy yet,” she said. “He is obsessed with ‘Star Wars’ and Ultimate Battle (card game) simulator stuff on YouTube.”
His father James took the day off so he could see Jack get the new bike last month. Jack also received a lock and a helmet.
On the way home, Jack said, “That was so nice of them. They didn’t have to pick me.”
Then he got to work on his thank-you cards.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @rikkiking.
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