A Metro Vancouver animal welfare group says it lost thousands of dollars in equipment and goods after a break-in at one of its Surrey facilities this week.
The Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) Community Thrift Store raises money to fund its vet hospital, which offers low-cost care, as well as its animal shelter.
RAPS say its Surrey location was broken into either late at night on May 13 or early in the morning on May 14. The group says thieves “smashed the glass door and stole electronic payment processing equipment,” along with “thousands of dollars worth of items.”
The Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) says its Community Thrift Store in Surrey was broken into, with thousands of dollars worth of equipment and goods stolen. (Submitted)
District Manager Karen Kamachi says recovering proceeds lost from the break-in is going to be tough.
“We’ve only been there eight weeks. Our funds are limited because we’re a charity, so a loss like this really impacts what we can do for the public,” she told CityNews.
Kamachi says break-ins at RAPS thrift stores are not unheard of. She explains, in 2022, an individual broke into one location and stole a safe, resulting in thousands of dollars in losses. In February, a television that was outside of the organization’s Francis Road location was thrown through a window, before the suspect smashed the rear and side windows of an employee’s car.
Kamachi says the latest incident hits particularly hard as the store has yet to gain traction in the neighbourhood.
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“The fact that we’ve only been there for eight weeks is staggeringly bad timing. Every item in that store is important because we aren’t getting the volume of donations we need to keep us afloat. So, having this guy come in and steal all of our stuff is just awful,” said Kamachi.
RAPS volunteers operate three thrift stores, with one in Surrey’s Cloverdale neighbourhood and two in Richmond. The animal welfare society is now asking members of the public to donate goods to the store, along with cash donations online.