GRANT, Mich. — In Grant, it pays to be a good kid.
"Students are nominated by their teachers for just doing extraordinary things," says Officer Justin Visser, the school resource officer for Grant High School.
The latest winner of Grant Police Department's Be Nice program is freshman Eden Lopez.
"Teachers have said all year long, he has such a big heart for kids," says Visser.
Lopez got to choose his prize from a selection of things either donated to the police department or bought through fundraiser and grant money. Lopez decided on a brand new bike.
"He just got a big smile on his face," says Visser. "But at first was like, 'what's going on?' It was just kind of funny."
"He was really surprised and actually a little confused," says Chelo Santana, Lopez's English and Spanish teacher at Grant High School. "He was like, 'why did I even win it?'"
Lopez took the bike home from the high school and stored it outside in his yard.
"I thought it'd be safe and apparently, it was not safe," says Lopez, speaking through Santana as his translator.
The next morning, when he went outside, it was gone.
"He was just in shock," says Santana.
Santana told Visser, who then posted it to Facebook.
"I took a picture of the bike and went, 'hey, this was stolen, we need your help,'" says Visser.
Almost immediately, the post was shared more than 200 times. Even better, Visser started getting tips.
"I had parents calling me and texting me saying I know where the bikes at," he says.
In a town where it pays to be a good kid, the town was paying it back. Only a couple hours after the post went online, the bike was found.
"When he got word that there's a police officer waiting for him with the bike, his words were, 'wow, they found it, it's back!'" says Santana. "And he was so, so happy."
Visser is proud of his community.
"It was just an overall excitement that the small town of Grant cares enough about their students to go, we're gonna make this right," says Visser. "It was just awesome."
Lopez is grateful to ride off into the sunset after his happy ending.
"He wants to say to the people of Grant and the community that helped, thank you very much," says Santana.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.