Broken into, vandalized, stolen from: Calgary youth centre hit hard at horrible time
"Sad, devastating and despicable," is how Gar Gar describes recent break-ins at the Youth and Empowerment Skills Centre in Calgary's southeast.
Friday, the YES Centre's executive director was still reeling from thousands of dollars in stolen or damaged goods and the knowledge he's entering the holiday season with far less available to give.
Gar says he believes the break-ins were targeted, and that the person or people responsible cut through a fence lock, twice, to gain entry.
Once inside, Gar says, they caused "total destruction."
In the aftermath of the incidents, the YES Centre has lost several dozen used laptops that were ready to be distributed to those in need, and a couple dozen more that were still being tested.
A couple dozen brand-new laptops still in their boxes were also targeted, as well as several dozen laptops, desktops and tablets set up for visitors of the centre to use.
Up to a dozen expensive bikes donated to the centre are also gone, among other items meant to go to children in need.
"This has been devastating and indescribable, for someone to target a youth centre where all of those items are 100 per cent given by the community, for the community. It has also set us back, as we have been working hard during the pandemic, and continue to support our vulnerable at-risk youths, low-income families and our community," Gar wrote.
"Those thieves may have stolen from us the most important items that have impact in many vulnerable lives in our community, but they can never steal our hope, faith and belief in good.
"May the light of good triumph over darkness and evil."
Hopeful that Calgarians feel the same, Gar and the YES Centre set up a GoFundMe page, to try and recover some or all of what they've lost, so they can get back to paying it forward.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.