The latest example — an outpouring of support for a local nonprofit after thieves stole a trailer loaded with kids bikes — provides important perspective on Tuesday’s election.

Our ability to come together to solve local problems or lend a helping hand will always have a bigger bearing on our day-to-day lives than whomever occupies the White House.

Last year, when a sign in front of a Grand Junction mosque was vandalized, a GoFundMe campaign to repair the damage surpassed its $2,500 goal in three hours, raising more than $3,000 from 73 donations.

In similar fashion, the theft of a trailer loaded with 18 bikes and helmets from the Riverside Educational Center’s storage area earlier this month touched off a wave of goodwill.

A generous donor gave $12,500 to replace the trailer and community members have donated more than 60 bicycles, some of them brand-new and purchased just for REC.

The response included this heart-warming tale, which appeared on the Dan’s Towing Facebook page:

“First off, we saw a news story about the theft of a bunch of kids’ mountain bikes and safety gear from Riverside Educational Center, a nonprofit organization helping local kids. Now, this just won’t do. Theft is bad enough, but stealing from kids really chaps our hides. While we wish we could do more, we are a small company with limited resources, so we did what we could and purchased four new inexpensive bikes and helmets to at least help a little in getting the program back up and running.

“Here’s the second part… and it’s on a personal note from the owner. We try to buy from local businesses whenever possible, but in this particular situation I had to go to a big box store due to the type of bikes we were wanting.

“So while I was struggling to wrangle four bikes and helmets myself through a checkout line, the gentleman in front of me put two and two together and asked if these were going to the kids whose bikes were stolen. I told him yes, and he thanked me and said he would like to help so he handed me a $50 bill to help with the cost. How awesome! As I was thanking him, the gentleman behind me in line overheard the conversation and told me he didn’t have much money but wanted to do something, so he looked in his billfold and pulled out $5. He handed it to me and said he wished he had more but that was all he had. I told him he didn’t need to do that but he insisted. He then asked if he could help me get the bikes out to my vehicle, which I gladly accepted.”

“I tell you what, that warmed my heart like you couldn’t believe. Gave me goosebumps, actually.”

It’s a statement of the obvious that the folks working to replace the stolen bikes comprise both Democrats and Republicans. Each political party paints the other as some kind of threat to the future of the republic, but when the problem is local and real, divisions fade because more unites us than divides us.

Let’s remember that. No matter who wins the presidency, we are first and foremost citizens of the Grand Valley. We’ve done a good job taking care of each other until now. There’s no reason for that to change on Nov. 4 or thereafter.