CTV News viewer steps up after wheels stolen from Greater Vancouver Food Bank's delivery truck
Staff at the Greater Vancouver Foodbank made a disheartening discovery when they returned to their Burnaby warehouse Tuesday after the B.C. Day long weekend.
One of their five-ton refrigerated delivery trucks – clearly branded with the charity's name and logo – had its front wheels stolen.
Chief Operating Officer Cynthia Boulter told CTV News the theft came as a shock.
"It's one thing to steal and it's another to steal from a food bank truck. We are getting food to those who need it, there are so many people out there right now in need," she said.
"The concept of debilitating a food bank truck and stealing from a food bank is not something any of us can really wrap our heads around, to be honest."
The truck was left jacked up by a makeshift device comprised, in part, of a concrete block and a piece of wood, and hardware was scattered on the street. The theft has been reported to both ICBC and the Burnaby RCMP.
Boulter said each tire will cost about $1,000 to replace. Beyond that, the organization is thinking through how to make sure future thefts can be prevented. Parking them in the fenced-in lot in Vancouver is an option, but Boulter says that would increase travel time for delivery drivers heading to partner organizations outside of the city.
"It's not going to stop us. We will recover, but this has an impact on our day-to-day, and it's going to cost a little bit of donor money to recover from this, and that's not what we want to have to spend our money on," Boulter said Tuesday.
But by Wednesday, there was a solution that meant the charity would not have to spend any money at all on covering the cost of the theft.
After seeing the story on CTV News, a local business – Bee-Clean Building Maintenance – got in touch with the food bank and offered to cover the cost of replacing the tires and outfitting the trucks with tire locks.
A spokesperson for the food bank described the Good Samaritan's unprompted donation as "amazing."
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