Four students found themselves victim to bike theft after coming back to campus from winter break.

The students whose bikes were stolen are: Nelson Nicholson, a sophomore finance major from Argyle, Carter Johnson, a sophomore agricultural business major from Lake Travis, Hunter Rhodes, a sophomore finance major from Lake Travis and Reed “Beep” Denton, a sophomore finance major from Belton.

“Discovering that our bikes had been stolen occurred when we saw a man riding Carter’s bike on Judge Ely,” said Nicholson. “I remember saying, ‘Hey Carter, that guy has the same bike as you do.’ And when we arrived back at Smith Adams, we saw that our bike locks had been cut and our bikes stolen, to which our initial reaction was devastation.”

Nicholson created a fundraiser on gofundme.com attempting to raise money to purchase new bikes. Nicholson said despite the total worth of the bikes being $550, they set their goal at $300 because they did not think that anyone would donate.

“At the beginning of the school year myself and Carter purchased two beautiful bikes to which we used as primary transportation to and from class,” Nicholson said on the gofundme. “Unfortunately, as we made our triumph return to Abilene Christian University we noticed our ships of the road, (our bikes) had been stolen.”

Fortunately, three people have donated, raising $25. One of the donors, Grant Potter, who attended ACU last year as a freshman youth ministry major, met Nicholson and Johnson through mutual friends.

“I donated because I hate thieves and also because they were trying to save money on gas, so they did something smart like ride bikes to class,” Potter said. “They did nothing to deserve having those taken away from them. It was unfair, and I want my boys to get their new bikes so they can ride to class happily and eco-friendly”.

The two are still accepting donations to their fundraiser at https://www.gofundme.com/new-bikes-for-victims-of-theft?r=21481