CADILLAC — The Salvation Army is changing procedures, after they say someone stole some donations meant for people in need right out of their locked donation box.
Cadillac’s Salvation Army said that a local nonprofit recently held a winter clothing drive for the Salvation Army’s community center.
Social service coordinator Micah Chisholm said Hospice of Michigan was collecting new hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves and placed them in the donation bin at their thrift store on Mitchell Street.
He said sometime in the overnight hours, someone helped themselves to every single item that Hospice of Michigan had collected and donated. Chisholm said that impacts the Salvation Army, who now will have to most likely buy items to replace what was stolen.
He said it also affects those that need the donations the most.
“I don’t have an exact number, but my understanding is that there was a very large number of items collected that had been put in the donation box. What we have, we will give away. We can’t give what we don’t have. And so, when things are taken, then that limits our ability to, to help people. But, to anybody who would feel like they would need to go and just reach into the donation bin or into a dumpster. You don’t have to do that. You can actually just come and ask, and we’ll do our very best to meet that need, in a way that’s affirming to you and, and dignified,” said Chisholm.
Chisholm said because of the recent theft, they are asking people and organizations that want to donate specific items for a specific project, to please bring them to the Salvation Army on Wright Street between the hours of 7 am to 5 pm to ensure that staff can take the donations inside right away.