John Williamson, at the Salvation Army's Lyndhurst Road premises. - photo by Robert Lalah

A couple of Saturdays ago, the staff at the Salvation Army's Lyndhurst Road centre in St Andrew thought they had caught a lucky break. In the middle of a tough recession, when donations generally are down, they received a substantial gift of clothes and furniture from a family in Kingston.

It took the staff two hours to unload the truck full of donated items. When all was done, the Lyndhurst Road centre had more stock than ever before.

The Salvation Army runs a thrift store, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation programme and a furniture restoration business at that location. The items donated are sold at minimal cost and the money goes to funding these programmes.

John Williamson, executive director of the centre, was heartened and his hopes for expanding the programmes seemed well within reach.

But, late that Saturday night, thieves invaded the premises and made off with a considerable number of the recently donated items, including four pieces of furniture, a mattress and a computer. A staff member realised the items were gone on Sunday morning.

"We were very disappointed. Of course, we know times are hard, but we are, an organisation committed to helping people in need and when things like this happen, those are the people who are hurt the most," said Williamson.

That sort of reasoning seemed lost on the thieves, however, as they returned late Sunday night for more.

"On Sunday night, they took even more furniture and some tools. We don't suppose they came on foot and lifted the furniture over the fence, so it seems they came prepared with a truck," said Williamson.

Access to keys

There was no sign of forced entry, so it appears the thieves had access to keys at some point and made copies.

"We have a lot of people here because of the rehabilitation work that we do and sometimes people borrow keys for different reasons. We have no way of knowing if anyone went and made copies," Williamson said. He doesn't suppose any current members of the programme were involved in the heist. Instead, he suspects the keys were likely copied some time ago by a former member.

"We really don't know, but it seems the most probable scenario," he said.

It's estimated that the value of the items taken is somewhere in the region of $150,000.

"That's a big blow to us here. We could have done a lot with that," Williamson said.

There is a watchman on the premises during the days, but none at night. There had been break-ins at the location before, but very little was taken. Williamson said there were no security guards working there, largely because that would cost a lot and would cut into the money the organisation has to run its programmes.

However, now that they have lost so much, he and the other members of the Salvation Army have a difficult decision to make. Do they redistribute their funds and make the significant allocation to security and in so doing cut the funding for the rehabilitation programmes?

Or, do they simply increase their vigilance and supervision of the keys and hope for the best?

On that point, Williamson was candid.

"We've already changed all the locks. The truth is, we could easily raise the fences, surround the place with barbed wire and hire security guards, but then we would have to significantly cut our aid to those who need it. We're committed to helping people and that's what we would like to keep doing," he said.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com