Students and parents at Webster’s Corners Elementary School in Maple Ridge are shocked anyone would take the scrap metal they have been collecting to raise additional money for their school.
School principal Ramin Mehrassa told Global News his students were collecting scrap metal for a fundraiser.
The metal was supposed to be picked up by trucks this weekend, but because of a technical problem, the metal was not collected and was left unattended over the weekend.
On Monday morning, some of the collected metal went missing.
Cindy Farnsworth with the school’s parent advisory committee says some pillagers were caught red-handed by parents, but others escaped with metal.
The school raised nearly half of their fundraising dollars last year from the fundraiser, says Farnsworth.
All money from the scrap metal drive is used to buy new learning equipment.
She says funding cutbacks are forcing the school to continually raise money, and they need to raise at least $8,000 every year.
But as the word of theft spread, the community came together to help and contributed whatever metal they had.
“The community did continue to drop off things over the weekend, which we believe countered what was lost,” says Farnsworth. “For the individuals who felt the need to steal from us, all I want is for them to feel bad for what they did.”
Maple Ridge RCMP are currently investigating. Anyone with information about the theft is asked to give police a call.
PHOTO GALLERY: Scrap metal collected over the weekend
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