Thieves clean out non-profit’s data
Until a few days ago, the desks inside the Women of The Dawn office on Dewdney Avenue were decked out with computers and scanners. Now those desks are bare. Volunteers say they have no idea how they’re going to run things after all of the non-profit organization’s computers were stolen on Wednesday night.
The first that Ivy Kennedy-Hall knew about the theft was a call at 10 a.m. Thursday.
“The computers were all gone, the towers, the scanners,” she said.
“They cleaned us right out.”
Kennedy-Hall estimates the cost of the theft at $5,000.
“WE DIDN’T HAVE A PAPER BACKUP OF MOST OF THIS STUFF.”
SONYA MCKAY
While the loss of the computers is inconvenient and costly, it’s the loss of the information inside the machines that has come as a real blow.
Lists of donors, project proposals, the residential schools client list, names of children who attend bible school through the program — it’s all gone.
“We didn’t have a paper backup of most of this stuff,” explained volunteer Sonya McKay.
“I don’t think anyone took this to put our organization in jeopardy, I just don’t think they realized how important this information is.”
What’s even harder is that all of the information for the First Nations Awards — scheduled for Nov. 8 — was on the computers.
The awards are the major fundraiser for the organization, which also runs the Moshum and Kokum program for seniors in the community.
McKay has been working on them all year; a fluorescent pink diagram listing tables for the event is still pinned to an office corkboard.
But this year, the awards will most likely have to be cancelled.
“All of the information for them has to be redone,” McKay said.
“It’s a one-year project. For us to do it in one month is pretty much impossible unless we get those computers back.”
Another event on the rocks is the annual Kids Christmas Party, which the organization throws for children in North Central each year.
McKay said it would be unlikely people would recognize the machines, but might realize what they’ve found when they turn one on.
“We just ask if people come across them, that they return the computers to us,” McKay said.
It’s not the first time the organization has been robbed.
When the office was located downtown, it was hit three times in the one week.
Still, Kennedy-Hall said, it’s not easy.
“It’s really discouraging,” she said.