Staff and parents at Beach Grove Elementary are in a state of shock after discovering their emergency preparedness storage bin has been targeted by thieves.
Principal Rick Hall made the discovery this week after noticing several students had gained access to what was a locked storage bin at the back of the school.
“It’s not something that you check all the time, but I went over and sure enough, the locks were gone and the shed was completely empty,” said Hall. “All that is left is a table, some clipboards and orange traffic cones.”
Every school in the district has one of these bins located somewhere on school property. The bins are typically stocked and maintained by the schools and their PACs.
“The bins are meant to serve entire school communities in the event of an emergency,” said Hall.
Beach Grove PAC chair Alyson Brennan said four years ago the PAC spent more than $4,000 replacing expired food, water and medical supplies (enough food for three days for around 450 people). Now the PAC is faced with not only the bill to replace the perishable items, but another $4,000 to $5,000 to replace other emergency items such as tents, camping stoves, blankets, Duraflame logs, hard hats, axes, knifes, etc.
“District insurance won’t cover this and last time it was 75 to 80 per cent PAC funds,” said Brennan. “The disheartening thing is we have to raise all this money again. We have been focused on raising money for our playground replacement, and now add this. When Rick phoned me I couldn’t believe it.”
Hall said the theft was very organized and was likely a professional job.
Delta police are investigating, but have little to go on.
Brennan said the PAC is launching a GoFundMe campaign (https://www.gofundme.com/emergency-prepardness-replacement-fund) and is looking at other potential fundraising opportunities.
“My big concern is we’ve been broken into and could they come again,” said Hall, adding he has contacted school district staff about the potential of moving the bin to a more visible location on school property.
