Discouragement and frustration after the Boys and Girls Club of Riverview had its vehicles vandalized.
Executive Director Lynda Carey says it happened over the weekend.
“The staff parked the vehicles on Friday after they had gone to the schools to pick up the children and brought them back. We discovered the vandalism on Monday morning.”
BGC Riverview has two vans and a bus, and all three were hit by vandals.
“One of the vans is in the worst shape. They popped the lock out of the door and tore the undercarriage of the dash out. They ripped out the ignition which is on the column of the steering wheel and that was still laying there on the floor. So the vehicle was completely inoperable. We couldn’t even get the key into it,” Carey said. “The other van they popped a lock but did nothing further. Our bus has a door on the very back of it. We keep that one locked from the inside, and they had bent the external handle right off trying to get into it.”
The BGC Riverview transports 60 kids to their centre every day from the five elementary schools, with three vehicles, but now they’re down to two until repairs are done.
“We have opened an insurance claim which I’m not happy to have to do but for the amount of damage and all three vehicles having to receive attention. There’s always the deductible and that will be money out of pocket,” Carey adds.
She says it’s hard to believe someone would do this to a non-profit organization like theirs.
“The van is clearly logoed with our name on it. So they knew who they were breaking into. It’s sad to think that it’s gotten to this point.”
Carey says it’s not the first time they’ve dealt with vandals. Last spring, someone crawled underneath their bus and drilled a hole in the gas tank, and drained the fuel.
The centre is located in eastern Riverview on Runnymeade Road.
Carey says they’ve reported the vandalism to the RCMP, and she’s asking anyone who may have video or noticed anything suspicious over the weekend to report it to the police or BGC Riverview directly.
