Cathedral Kitchen staff ready to deliver meals to area homeless arrived at work the morning of Nov. 24 to discover two of their delivery trucks were missing catalytic converters.
“It’s a difficult time for this to happen,” said Noreen Flewelling, senior development director of the nonprofit that provides meals and other services in Camden and nearby communities.
Staff were left scrambling to reorganize their day, as they had to unpack the vandalized trucks and repack other vehicles repurposed to make deliveries. Cathedral Kitchen provides 1,300 meals a day – breakfast, lunch and dinner – to eight homeless shelters and halfway houses in Camden and Blackwood. That’s in addition to delivering meals and groceries to other community partners.
By mid-afternoon, Flewelling said the organization had learned that it would take at least a month to get the vehicles repaired, due to supply issues. Repairs will cost around $3,500 for each truck, she said, adding that the organization would be grateful for any monetary donations. For more information on Cathedral Kitchen, visit cathedralkitchen.org.
The vandalism was caught on video surveillance, which shows the suspect(s) driving by the organization’s Federal Street location late Nov. 23, returning a few hours later and climbing a locked gate to access the vehicles, Flewelling said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Camden Police Department. Their 24-hour tip line is (856) 757-7042.
In the meantime, Flewelling was confident that all meals planned for the Thanksgiving weekend would go on as scheduled.
“These people rely on us – they have no other meals or food coming,” Flewelling said.
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