Amanda Needham thought her bike was gone forever when she posted a sign outside her Brooklyn home.

“To the person who stole my bicycle: I hope you need it more than I do,” it read. “It was $200 used, and I need it to get to work. I can’t afford another one.”

“Next time, steal a hipster’s Peugeot. Or not steal! PS: Bring it back.”

Writing for The Washington Post, Needham says she “felt a little foolish” when she first wrote the sign – but she was unaware of the movement she was about to start.

“After all, if my husband and I had spent nearly as much time double securing my bicycle as I did writing the sign, I might not be in the situation,” she says. “But I knew other people’s bicycles had been stolen in the neighbourhood, and the least I could do was acknowledge what had happened.”

This woman posted a sign when her bike was stolen – and started a movement