Charity disheartened by plant theft
Someone ‘robbed the community’ when they stole plants from Far North Community Hospice over the weekend.
Operations manager Davina Reed said she was disappointed and angry to discover seven flowering dianthus plants were dug out of the organisation’s Matthews Ave property.
The plants had been carefully selected and removed, clearly for someone to replant in their own garden.
Ms Reed said hospice was a charity, which relied on donations to provide care for terminally ill patients. Having the plants removed was like a ‘kick in the guts’ for the organisation.
The flowers were there for patients, staff and family to appreciate, particularly as they walked down the drive to Awhi House, Ms Reid said.
“Anyone who’s coming to wreck, ruin, rob or thieve, they’re just robbing from the community,” she said.
Ms Reid said the theft was particularly gutting for facilities coordinator George van der Linden, who works with great pride on the property.
“He put them in, in January, and he had nurtured them and watered them during the week. He had felt very proud of his efforts and had a lot of positive comments about how beautiful the garden was looking,” she said.
“This is the face of hospice and we take a bit of pride in what we’ve got . . . To have that done is really disheartening, I feel taken advantage of.”
About a year ago, someone broke the hospice’s fence to get into the backyard to steal fruit. But, other than that, there had been few problems at the Matthews Ave address, Ms Reid said.
She encouraged the perpetrator to consider alternatives.
“Kaitaia Markets have a fantastic selection of reasonably priced plants and I encourage the person helping themselves to shop at the market to support local produce,” she said.