Sixteen-year-old Julia Craig opened the door to the 6th Chilliwack Scout troop’s storage room on April 10 to a scene of disarray and loss.
“Wow,” the Venturer Scout said as she and a reporter opened the locked door on Monday. “You can definitely tell people have been through here.”
Sad news today•the church we meet at was broken into last night and lots went missing from our storage room
— 6thChilliwack Scouts (@6thCHWKscouts) April 10, 2017
Someone broke into the troop’s storage room at Chilliwack United Church overnight Sunday, according to Julia’s mother Lorna who is the group commissioner.
The 6th Chilliwack group lost at least five tents, one large gear box, camping equipment and even archery sets from the upstairs room at the Chilliwack United Church at Yale and Spadina.
A lot of this stuff we just purchased in the last year or so,” Lorna told the Progress April 11. “To have someone make a complete mess of the area, it’s really disconcerting.”
Much of the gear was purchased with money the scouts did fundraising for so they could go to jamborees.
A GoFundMe account was set up to help replace the lost gear, particularly in time for the kids next came, which is coming up soon.
By April 17, $675 of a $2,500 goal had been raised.
“We’ve got four of our youth heading to the Canadian Jamboree in Halifax this year,” she said. “Some of that equipment was supposed to be going with us… . You can understand now that I’m quite upset about this.”
A lot of the items were purchased new this year and if not found soon, will need to be replaced before our upcoming spring and summer camps
— 6thChilliwack Scouts (@6thCHWKscouts) April 10, 2017
In all, Lorna estimated between $3,000 and $4,000 worth of gear was taken. A couple of duffel bags stolen had the troops logo on them.
The theft has been reported to the RCMP and while the storage room is inside the church, there was no damage or loss to the church or the church property.
The 6th Chilliwack Scouts have used a room for storage in the church since 1957, never before with a problem, Lorna said.
The Chilliwack United Church was the location of a warming centre for homeless individuals over the winter, but Lorna said she would like to think that didn’t have anything to do with this latest theft.
“But with any group in society you’ve got good ones and bad ones,” she said.
Lorna said she is particularly disappointed to see someone steal from a volunteer-run organization that does a lot of good work to help young people learn skills and get the opportunity to do things they might not normally be able to. As for whether any upcoming events or outings will have to be cancelled, she hopes not but “they are going to be scrambling a bit.”
