CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. – A GoFundMe page has been launched to help a Campbell River non-profit that was the victim of theft.
The Campbell River Head Injury Support Society is reeling after being broken into early Saturday morning.
Someone stole hundreds of dollars worth of tools from the society’s location at 9th Avenue and Dogwood Street.
Find the GoFundMe page here.
Housing and Program Coordinator for CRHISS, Jennifer Kay, says this is the third time in a year someone has stolen from the society, and it’s hard to recover from the robberies.
“It’s really difficult, we do fundraise and we write grants, and there’s lots of great individuals in the community that donate and help us out with stuff, but it just means we have to go out and find a way to get those tools back,” said Kay.
The society’s executive director Shelley Howard said the goal is to replace the tools that were stolen. And since this is the third time the society has been a victim of a break-and-enter, it will have to look at putting barbed wire around the top of its fence, which will also be costly.
Howard spoke about why the tools are important.
“Sometimes we have projects that we do with our group, plus we also, for maintenance around our building, we have four transitional suites upstairs that sometimes need repair, (and) we’ve got garden stuff happening in the backyard with sheds and garden beds.”
The society also has 24 units in downtown Campbell River which sometimes need to be renovated.
Howard is disheartened by thieves targeting a society that helps people with varying degrees of brain injuries from mild to traumatic.
“We couldn’t believe it,” she said. “Most people know non-profits (and) money is really hard to come by. And when we acquire things, we’re really excited and grateful. And for someone to come in and steal in the middle of the night, we’re looking at it going, ‘Oh my God. This is just crazy that somebody would do that.’”
The society asks anyone with information on the robbery to call the Campbell River RCMP at 250-286-6221.
