‘It is sad that somebody is so desperate’: Attempted grocery theft hits Cherryville food bank

A thief broke into a North Okanagan food bank this week and tried to make off with groceries.

The organization’s president believes the unusual crime was motivated by desperation at a time when many are struggling financially.

The president of the Cherryville Community Food Bank went to the organization’s building at 4 a.m. on Tuesday because she got a notification about an alarm.

She expected she’d simply be resetting the system.

However, Sharon Harvey now believes she likely interrupted a break-in in progress.

Harvey said it was when she opened the freezer she noticed things were amiss and came to the frightening realization there might be someone in the building with her.

As she went to leave, she noticed the back door was also opened and called 911.

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She returned later after police arrived, and found food near the backdoor and over a nearby bank.

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Harvey said whoever perpetrated the break-in was trying to take food from the food bank over the embankment to a road below.

“All the food was there pretty much. There was very little that they were able to take away so I must have come when they were just in the process,” Harvey said.

Most of the food was recovered so the break-in will not have much of an impact on the food bank’s operations.

The organization is more concerned about making sure everyone, even the person responsible for the break-in, has enough to eat.

“To me it is sad that somebody is so desperate for food that they would break into the food bank, ” Harvey said.

“We help people with very little qualifications. If you live in Cherryville you qualify for food. We try to help as much as we can.”

She said the food bank is stocked with enough food to feed those who need it in the community and anyone who could benefit from assistance should reach out.

“It makes me sad because we are obviously not getting the word out there that we are available no strings attached,” Harvey said.

“Especially with COVID right now there is so many circumstances. We don’t judge anyone that is coming. Please just come so that we can help you.”

Harvey said before the pandemic the food bank, which serves a relatively sparsely populated rural area with less than a thousand residents, would give out around 20 hampers a month.

Since that pandemic the demand for hampers has jumped to between 27 and 34 each month.