NEW GLASGOW – The Pictou County Food Bank East is suffering a financial blow after vandals smashed the window in their truck overnight on Tuesday.
In what police are calling a senseless act of violence, the driver’s side window was smashed with a “large boulder,” said Tom Foley, co-manager of the food bank in New Glasgow.
Because of the deductible the food bank would have to pay makes claiming it on their insurance impossible, the charitable organization is now on the hook for the repair, which is expected to cost a few hundred dollars to fix.
This isn’t the first time the food bank has been targeted, either. This is the second time the windows have been broken on the truck and since moving to their new location on Granville Street three years ago, they’ve also had windows broken on the building, the shed where recyclables are stored was broken into and the siding on the building has been dented where it’s been kicked. Someone also jumped on the lids of the garbage containers, denting them, and a no loitering sign has been torn off the building.
“It’s frustrating,” said Foley. “We’re trying to help the people out there with different problems, and here someone does this to us.”
None of the incidents are major, he said, but it means the food bank has to somehow cover the costs of the repairs.
“It adds up to a few hundred here and a few hundred there,” he said. “With our deductable, it doesn’t make any sense to put a claim into the insurance, and if we did, our rates would skyrocket.”
Foley is concerned that the incidents are escalating and worries that next time, vandals will do more damage.
“We’re in a pretty isolated area, we’re not really beside anyone else,” he said, adding that the food bank’s isolation could make it a bigger target for vandals.
In the latest incident, it’s believed that someone smashed the window of the food bank truck sometime late Tuesday or early Wednesday morning. It was discovered when someone driving by noticed the broken window and called police.
Anyone with any information is asked to call New Glasgow Police or Crime Stoppers.
