Attack on van stops meals for poor
A Tauranga charity has been forced to put its long-running free meal service on hold after vandals smashed up the delivery van.
It is the second time in as many months criminals have hit the St Vincent de Paul Society, after the gates from their Cameron Rd op shop were stolen in late November.
Tony Rogers, president of the society's Western Bay branch, said it was “wanton vandalism”.
He was called to the storage facility on Courtney Rd in Merivale on Sunday morning and found nearly all the windows on the charity's old Nissan Vanette smashed.
The rubber seals for windows and doors had been pulled out, upholstery ripped and the bulkhead damaged.
“It was clear they had tampered with the fuel as well because the cap was lying on the tarmac some distance away,” Rogers said.
He said the van was cleaned out after every delivery and there was nothing left inside to steal.
“It is disheartening, to say the least, to see a charity hit without rhyme or reason. There was no value that could have been obtained. To my mind it was just wanton vandalism.”
Rogers said the van had been parked in the same spot outside the storage facility without problems for the 12 years during which the society had been running its Fullstop meal delivery programme.
Six nights a week, volunteers visit the poorest parts of Tauranga — a different area each night — giving away free sandwiches or soup, drinks and fruit. Rogers said they gave out hundreds of meals a week.
The van, which was insured, had special fittings for the deliveries that could not be easily removed, so the service had to stop until the van was fixed.
“The damage to the vehicle means other people are going to miss out.”
Rogers did not know how much repairs would cost but said that if the bill ran into the thousands of dollars the society would have to consider replacing the van altogether as it might not be worth repairing it.
Police confirmed they were making inquiries.