The Salvation Army is reeling after a significant vandalism spree at one of its Kelowna, B.C., locations over the weekend.
“I was deeply saddened by the vandalism, by the crime,” said Capt. Jennifer Henson with Salvation Army Okanagan Central.
Three of the organization’s service vehicles were badly damaged in a vandalism incident that happened sometime between midnight Friday and Saturday morning.
The vehicles, two of which are often used in emergency disasters, were parked in the parking lot behind the Salvation Army’s Rutland Thrift store.
The damage included smashed windows and ripped-out wiring.
“These vehicles, obviously, were purchased with the support of our community and so that was really heartbreaking and to know that it would impact our ability to serve the community,” Henson told Global News.
The two specialized vehicles include a refrigerated truck and a mobile food services vehicle.
The third vehicle is a 10-person van used to transport youth and seniors to various programs.
All three vehicles are now out of commission indefinitely.
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“It’s impacting our ability, for example, to pick up food each day for our food reclamation program,” Henson said.
“If we had a call out at any point, because we’re always on standby, we would not be able to go to get to some of the more remote locations because we only have our larger truck that can’t get up there.”
RCMP have confirmed an investigation is underway but that at this point no arrests have been made.
Police are asking anyone who may have witnessed any suspicious activity during the overnight hours of the night of the offence or anyone who may have dash camera footage or video surveillance of the area to contact them.
“We’re here to serve the vulnerable people in our community and this disrupts these sorts of things disrupt that and so that’s hard,” Henson said.
The latest vandalism incident is the second one for the organization in the past year and it has officials exploring the idea of building a separate garage for the vehicles it needs to deliver vital services.
“Those are all very expensive options but we need to explore them now because we can’t have this sort of interruption in services in an ongoing way,” Henson said. “So we’re going to do our best to find the best option and we’ll let the community know how they can support us.”
You can go to the Salvation Army Okanagan Central website for more information on the services it offers or to donate.
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