A Winnipeg child-care director says a weekend break-in was more than casual theft.
Crestview Park Day Nursery workers came in for their shift Monday morning and discovered that a freezer — full of food for the preschoolers — had been stolen.
“This isn’t teenagers in the neighbourhood goofing around,” executive director Marja Masotti told Global Winnipeg.
“This is somebody who planned this — somebody who needed a truck and somebody to carry this big piece of equipment away.
“It was also obvious to me that it was someone who knew what they were after… none of our other equipment was missing, just this freezer full of food.”
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Masotti said this is the third break-in to the centre’s storage garage in the past few months, with similar incidents in March and May of this year. Each time, the end result was more costly repairs and upgrades.
“This time, they went in through the handle and were able to pry off the security plates and stole an upright freezer,” she said, adding a $1,400 lock was broken in the process.
“I understand. I get it. I buy groceries. Our grocery prices here for the centre for our hot lunch program have doubled over the years. So I understand that people are desperate for food.
“It’s not about what they’re taking, it’s about the damage they’re doing. I’d almost rather them come in and say, ‘I’m really hungry’.”
Masotti said staff at the centre, which is connected to École Voyageur, shared a “feeling of invasion” after the break-in.
“We’re looking at security cameras, at lights outside, because it is a school and it is a neighbourhood… and if it can happen in our garage, it can happen in the garage next door.”
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