An East Vancouver woman has a warning for others after thieves made off with boxes of holiday donations intended for a Syrian refugee family from her apartment lobby.
The entire incident was captured on security video.
It took Judy Dalling and a group of friends three years to sponsor the couple and their daughter who are originally from Damascus.
The family arrived in September, and Dalling said residents in the building had been banding together to put together a special hamper for them.
“We set up some donation boxes under the tree. We always do this. In past years we’ve given the donations to the food bank,” she said.
“This year, we have a special cause … and the strata agreed to put the boxes out for things to go to this family.”
That plan has run into a snag. On New Year’s Eve around 4:30 p.m., two people with a baby carriage slipped into the lobby when a person exiting the building didn’t shut the door on the way out.
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“They pulled right up to the tree and began unloading the boxes into the baby carriage. It was very fast,” Dalling said.
WATCH: Surveillance captures smash and grab suspect who stole food drive donation
In the video, two people with a stroller can be seen entering the lobby, making a bee-line for the boxes, and loading them into the carriage. The pair then grab a second box before fleeing out the doors.
Global News has requested comment from Vancouver police.
According to Dalling, the box was mainly filled with food — much of it carefully selected to appeal to the family’s Middle Eastern palate — along with several wrapped gifts for the young daughter.
Dalling said her concern now is making sure the Syrian family does get a holiday hamper.
“I even brought the mother into the lobby when I had them over and showed her all the gifts and I said, ‘This is coming to you on Jan. 4,’ which was the day we were going to pick them all up,” she said.
She added that there are a few donations that came in after the theft and that she and her sister plan to go shopping to fill up a box — but that she’d be grateful to accept donations from anyone else at 101 – 1000 Parker St.
And she finished with a warning about apartment building security.
“You should never let anyone pass by you at the door without knowing them and that they live here,” she said.
“Make sure the door closes behind you after you leave or you come in. It seems like common sense, but we let it slide.”
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