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Stolen truck jeopardizes East Bay non-profits upcoming food distribution
An East Bay non-profit is figuring out how to distribute hundreds of bags of food to families in need this week after its essential pickup truck was stolen from its Concord facility over the weekend.
CONCORD, Calif. - An East Bay non-profit is figuring out how to distribute hundreds of bags of food to families in need this week after its essential pickup truck was stolen from its Concord facility over the weekend.
Non-Profit Discovers Theft After Successful Event
Danny Scherer, executive director of the Monument Crisis Center, arrived at work Monday morning following a successful weekend event where his team stuffed and handed out more than 600 backpacks to low-income children ahead of the school year. The high-energy mood quickly shifted when staff noticed an empty parking space where the organization's truck is normally kept.
"Everyone kind of looked at each other thinking maybe someone borrowed the truck over the weekend," Scherer said.
After reviewing surveillance footage from Sunday, Scherer confirmed his fears. Video captured the vehicle driving away from the property at 9:11 a.m.
We reached out to Concord police about this incident, but have not heard back.
"It was a tough feeling definitely, because we had just come off this really big high of having our backpack distribution," Scherer said. "You don’t think that someone is going to steal a non-profit’s truck, even though you see stuff like this on the news and then it’s happened to you before, and so you’re like, it’s not going to happen to you again, right."
This marks the second time the organization has faced a vehicle theft, after another truck was stolen from the property 10 years ago.
Essential Vehicle Needed for Food Hauling
While the non-profit owns other vehicles, staff members say the stolen Ford F-350 is the only one in their fleet capable of hauling large pallets of food across the county.
"It’s a big truck, it’s an F-350, it’s got an eight-foot bed, we can fit a couple of pallets into it," Scherer said. "We use it for picking up extra produce, coordinating, picking up food drives. You know, we’re trying to serve thousands of families every month, and this is something that we really rely on to make sure that job gets done."
The theft directly impacts the organization's scheduled operations for this week. On Thursday, 150 families are relying on the center during its East County food distribution pop-up in Pittsburg.
"It’s really tough, you know, then we have to deal with the consequences, and eventually it’s the things our clients have to deal with, because we’re not able to run our East County Food Distribution, which is supposed to be happening this Thursday, but right now we don’t have a vehicle for it," Scherer added.
Short-Term Fixes and Long-Term Funding Needs
The theft comes at a difficult time for the non-profit as demand for its services remains high while funding is limited. Additionally, the Monument Crisis Center is currently working to raise $300,000 to cover the cost of a recently expanded warehouse.
If the stolen truck is not recovered before Thursday, the organization may rent a vehicle to ensure the Pittsburg food distribution moves forward.
However, renting serves only as a temporary solution. To cover the cost of a permanent replacement vehicle, the non-profit is accepting donations from the community through its website.