Thieves in Nictaux steal from food bank

Who steals from a food bank?

Joan Morrison would have given them food. That’s what food banks do.

Instead, a thief or thieves smashed out a tiny back window and made off with three turkeys, cases of beef jerky, and candy from the Twelve Baskets Food Bank in Nictaux.

Morrison, who manages the food bank, said the building was broken into sometime after 8:30 p.m. Dec. 16, after a board meeting ended, and the next morning when she and volunteer Rosa Pothier opened the building.

The first sign that something was wrong was how cold it was inside. Next they saw glass on the floor. They looked up above a big freezer and saw that the window was busted out.

“That whole glass was out and sitting down on the other side,” Morrison said. She said they apparently used a black dolly on the outside of the building to get in. “They used that and leaned it up against the window. They must have used it for a ladder,” she said. “We’re assuming it was probably kids.”

Or a very small adult. The window is so small it would be difficult for most people to crawl through.

Half a dozen food bank volunteers were busy Wednesday morning moving boxes, stocking shelves, and sorting through the donations. A van backed up to the door and a man in a Santa hat started unloading bags and bags of groceries.

It’s not like the Twelve Baskets Food Bank can afford the expense of the break-in, the cost of beefing up security, or the loss of food, said board chairman Walter Illsley. Especially at this time of year.

Those turkeys? Meant for Christmas hampers.

He said there are hungry people out there who rely on what the food bank offers.

“It just all costs us money,” said Illsley. “Money we don’t have. Money we could be using to buy food for people. Now we’ve got to fix the window, put bars in the windows. Do a few other things."

The idea of breaking into a food bank baffles Illsley.

“We have signs saying if they want food, come in, we’ll share it with you,” he said. “This is not our first break-in. This is probably our third or fourth. They just keep doing it. We have nothing other than food for them to get. I don’t know how desperate people have to be to break into a food bank.”

The number of people who do come through the front door is staggering.

“We serve on the average of 275 to 300 families per month,” Morrison said. “That’s not people. That’s families. Per month. That could be one or it could be six or seven people in the family. It’s growing. We had seven new families last month.”

She doesn’t know exactly how much food they give out to hungry families, but expects it’s in the hundreds of thousands of pounds every year.

The food comes from local donations and from Feed Nova Scotia.

“The high school in Middleton is absolutely awesome,” she said. “Those kids, grades 6, 7, and 8 and the Grade 9s, they do a fundraiser every year. It’s wonderful what they’re doing. And there’s private donations and some of the local grocery stores. TRA is a biggie. They do a lot.”

The Twelve Baskets Food Bank has been in operation for about 20 years and Morrison has been involved for 18 of them.

Annapolis District RCMP is investigating the break-in and are requesting anyone with any information to contact them at 902-825-2000 in Middleton, or 665-4481 in Bridgetown. Information can also be reported to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-2228477.