Local community organizations in Montreal that collect donated goods to support the needy are having some of their donation bins robbed.
They say they’ve seen a spike in the robberies in the last few weeks.
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“We have a store in West Island and the box is broken into every day,” says Éric St-Arnaud, assistant director general for Renaissance Montreal, an organization that helps people reintegrate into the workforce. “The past four months it’s been two to three times a week.”
He says bins across the city that belong to Renaissance are also being targeted frequently.
Thieves break into the bins by cutting the locks and sometimes even replacing them with their own. They take everything from clothes to electronics and often leave in trucks and large vans. St-Arnaud says it costs his organization thousands of dollars.
“It’s a few hundred dollars to modify per box,” St-Arnaud says. “Plus, when they vandalize it, you have to add a few thousand dollars to repair it.”
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He says people need to understand that when they steal from the bins, they’re only hurting vulnerable members of the community.
“We have close to a million people donating to us, and we are really grateful,” he says. “But at the same time, some other people think that because this is donation, we can get anything for free. But it’s costly for a non-profit organization.”
He says police do try to help, but unless there are video surveillance cameras on site, it’s hard to track the suspects.