For the second time in a matter of weeks, a thief has hit the Weymouth Food Pantry. They’ve had the catalytic converter stolen off their delivery truck twice and they now feel like they are being targeted.
The pantry relies on the truck to collect and distribute donations. They just got it repaired after someone stole the catalytic converter off of it in September. The community helped support them, but the fix cost thousands of dollars. They even installed a metal cage over it to try and protect it.
“That slowed them down, but it didn’t stop them,” the pantry’s director Pamela Denholm said.
Denholm and her staff showed up to their warehouse in Rockland Friday to find out if happened again.
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“We’re heartbroken. We feel targeted,” Denholm said.
Denholm said it could not have happened at a worse time. The holiday season is the busiest time of year at the pantry and demand has skyrocketed since the pandemic. The demand for Thanksgiving meals alone has doubled since 2019.
“This is not a victimless crime. You’re hurting people,” Denholm said.
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They are getting ready to repair the pantry’s truck for the second time at Red’s Truck Equipment and Repair in Whitman, but because of the supply chain crisis, the owner said it will not be right away.
“They’re not cheap and they’re backordered. No one around the state has them,” owner Troy Morgida said.
The pantry got a patch to keep the truck running as they wait, but in the meantime, the owner is looking for somewhere else to park it.
“I’m not above parking the police station if I have to. This can’t be a cycle,” Denholm said.
