TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Thief Steals Charity Donations Earmarked For Poor

Someone helped themselves to cash and other items intended to help the needy.

ADVERTISEMENT

By LAURA FRAZIER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 16, 2007

Brandon, FL - Brandon, FL - In addition to spiritual guidance, the St. Vincent DePaul Society of Brandon provides food, clothing, household items and financial assistance to families who have fallen on hard times and need help.

Last week, however, someone helped themselves to the charity's cash and other items earmarked for the needy people they serve.

Althea Lee, St. Vincent DePaul program coordinator, was dismayed to discover on Tuesday morning, March 13, that someone had broken into the Nativity Catholic Church pastoral care office on S. R. 60, where the society stores its belongings.

Just one file cabinet was stolen from the building but Lee said, "Everything we owned was in that cabinet."

"All our records from the last five or six years, all our resource information, forms and references. It's all gone. They just ripped us apart."

More than $600 worth of prepaid debit cards, cash and postage stamps were in the stolen cabinet, Lee said. The society recently purchased the items with a donation from the church.

"They got in through the window, dragged the filing cabinet out to their car and drove off."

Lee has served as St. Vincent DePaul's volunteer coordinator for the past 10 years. She was shaken by the incident.

"When you think about it, you wonder, 'How can somebody steal from the poor?'"

But all is not lost, she said, thanks to good timing and divine intervention.

"One of our Vincentians, Lenny Coe, just completed a computer database for us a few weeks ago. Up until then, we didn't have any of our information on a computer," she said. Now at least they have copies of their lost records. "I'm convinced that God has a hand in this."

Lee and other church staff members are also convinced they've seen the perpetrators police are looking for -- in their office, a few days before the burglary.

"We had a case last week, a couple that needed help, and I just got this funny feeling that something was going to happen around it," she said.

According to Lee, a man and a woman the society assisted in February returned to their office March 9. While the woman was inside the office, the man sat outside in his car.

"We had helped the woman before. We paid her light bill for her, and then she came back that Friday to pick up some clothes we collected for her. While she was there, we also wanted to give her a Wal-Mart card to help her out. She walked right over to the filing cabinet with me to get the card. After she left, the man walked into the office, quickly looked around and then left without saying a word."

Lee is determined not to let "a few bad apples" stop the society's volunteers from reaching out to the community. Since 1976, they've welcomed needy people into their care with open arms, no questions asked.

"Our philosophy is to see the face of God in every person who is before us."

Even so, Lee said the staff will be more discerning with its clientele from now on.

They're likely to step up security measures and require background checks on those who come to seek help.

"We need to protect ourselves."

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter said unless witnesses to the crime come forward, her office cannot provide a description of the suspects.

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office, 247-8200.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT