An Edmonton organization says it is “heartbroken” after it says a thief stole three donation boxes from its building Saturday evening.
The Turkish Canadian Society of Edmonton shared images of the incident on social media, in hopes that someone will recognize the man.
“One of (the boxes) was for donations to help us with our operating expenses,” said Sim Senol, the treasurer for the society. “The second one is strictly for people that are in need, so we donate that money to the food bank, or to people in the community that are going through hard times.
“The big box in the bottom was actually for our mosque. Our community has been working almost three years now for a mosque project.”
Senol said that the boxes hadn’t been emptied for some time, but that she’s unsure how much money was in them.
“(It’s) more than the amount of money — it’s that feeling that insecurity — we’re just heartbroken,” she said.
The society, which is located at 154 Street and 105 Avenue, had hosted a prayer service on Saturday night for someone in the local community who had passed away. Senol said she was the last person out of the building at around 11:30 p.m., and that the thief was caught on camera just after 12:30 a.m.
“We couldn’t tell if the person came in when the event was going on, or if he broke into the building afterwards.”
Wireless microphones and other electronics were also taken from the building’s prayer room.
Senol said she isn’t concerned about raising up more donations because “People in Edmonton have such big hearts,” but she is also in disbelief someone would specifically target donation boxes.
“Both for our mosque, and especially the one that we collect for the needy, those are the ones I’m really sad about.”
The society has reported the incident to police.
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