A small family church has seen an outpouring of support and generous offers in the wake being ransacked recently.
The minister of Church of Christ in St. George, New Brunswick, David Haddon said he returned to the building Saturday night to turn on the heat in preparation for the next morning’s service.
But even before he could see there was a problem, he knew something was wrong.
“I didn’t have a flashlight and I started walking on glass,” he explained. “I got the lights on in the sanctuary … then I begin to look around and it just was total destruction, glass everywhere.”
Vandals broke in through a basement window, something Haddon says has happened in the past.
However, unlike previous break-ins, this time major damage was done to much of the church’s interior. Glass doors were shattered, communion plates were damaged, and a brand new piano was wrecked.
“They just was bent on destruction,” Haddon said.
“When I got into my office that was ransacked and upside down and everything,” he explained. “The window was entirely gone, laying on the ground out here.”
Though the damage was enough to upset the minister who dedicates his life to the church, he says it could’ve been much worse.
“My first wife died in 1990 and my oldest daughter was a very talented girl and she made a stained glass window in her memory,” he explained.
With his daughter having recently passed on, Haddon said knowing the window he holds so dear was spared was an enormous relief.
“I was glad for that,” he said.
After pictures of the damages were posted online, thousands of people shared the photos and provided kind words and support, some even offering donations to replace the piano and other items that had been lost.
Haddon, who is two weeks away from his 83rd birthday, says the overwhelming kindness they’ve received from strangers is “totally unexpected.”
“But it gives you a warm feeling inside,” he said.
“People are good.”