A local women’s agency says it is disappointed and discouraged following an act of vandalism over the weekend.
Staff showed up to work at the London Abused Women’s Centre (LAWC) office in a plaza at York Street and Rectory Street on Sunday to find one of their windows had been smashed.
“You can’t get through all the way into our building because the third pane of glass on the inside is bulletproof glass, so you can’t smash that,” said Megan Walker, executive director of LAWC.
“We have no money in our office. We’re a not-for-profit that tries to do our best, but there’s nothing of real value in our office,” she said.
“It’s a clear act of vandalism,” Walker said.
It’s not clear exactly when the window was smashed, but it’s said to have happened late Saturday or early Sunday.
No one was injured, but while the window is being fixed operations will be affected, Walker said.
“First of all, it’s pretty startling to have someone do that to your building. But secondly, it impacts our ability to serve women,” she said.
“When they come to replace that big piece of glass, they’ll have to access both the inside and outside of our office, which will impact our ability to serve clients during that time frame,” Walker said.
She said the glass has to be specially ordered. Financial resources that would have been used to help women and girls will now have to be diverted to cover repair costs, Walker said on Twitter.
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Although this is the first time a window has been smashed at the LAWC office, this isn’t the first time the women’s agency has been the subject of a suspected criminal act.
“We were the only office that had a window broken in the entire plaza. We were the only agency that received a bomb threat a few months ago,” Walker said.
“Sometimes we wonder if we’re being targeted.”
“We’re not conspiracy theorists and we don’t want to be paranoid, but it looks like sometimes that’s what happens,” she said.
The police are aware of the incident and Walker is urging anyone who may have seen something to come forward.
You can also assist by donating at lawc.on.ca, but Walker said the best way to help to offer help to a woman in need.
— With files from Craig Needles