SAN ANTONIO — The founder of a local non-profit food pantry is asking for the community's help after two of their delivery vehicles were found damaged and missing tires.
San Antonio police are now investigating the burglary of the Blessed Angels Community Center on the northeast side.
“For someone to do this to us, it just makes me want to cry,” said Marion Thomas, CEO and founder of Blessed Angels Community Center.
Over the past decade, Thomas has worked to fight hunger by helping more than 1.8 million people in San Antonio and surrounding communities through food deliveries and offering a host of educational resources.
“Nobody deserves to be hungry at all and especially during Christmas time,” Thomas said.
The non-profit uses four branded vehicles for delivering meals and driving clients to the community center. But now, only two of the cars are operational due to the burglary.
“We specifically deliver to people that can’t get anywhere,” said Austin Verette, operations manager at the Blessed Angels Community Center.
Verette typically makes between 15-20 food deliveries a day. But he spent most of Monday morning dealing with the mess left by whoever broke through the locked back lot fence and damaged the vehicles.
Verette noted the thief or thieves busted through the locked wooden fence adorned with barbed wire.
“We noticed the window was shattered. It looked like they cut the battery and tried taking the battery out. Obviously, walking over to this area, we noticed all the tires were missing,” Verette said.
One year ago, Verette said someone stole a catalytic converter from the delivery car that’s now wheel-less, which spurred action to place the vehicles in the back.
“That’s why we actually started parking them back here because at first we left them up front,” Verette said.
While police investigate, Thomas wonders what more can be done to protect the delivery vehicles that are vital to the mission of helping those in need. But for now, she’s focused on serving the people and she’s hoping the community can help in that effort.
“If somebody wants to help that would be a blessing just to be able to help make these deliveries and get this food in the hands of those who really need it.”
To learn how you can help, visit here.