$800 worth of food has been stolen from the Clinton Salvation Army and the break-in might leave families in need with less help.
"These freezers were filled up with meat, chicken nuggets and frozen pizzas," says Lt. Jeanette Jensen with the Salvation Army.
The 2 empty freezers are all thieves left at the Salvation Army's frozen food section.
"With 2 chest freezers full of meat it would have covered quite a bit of families," adds Lt. Jensen.
The crime happened sometime between noon on Sunday and 10am Monday morning. When the Salvation Army's business manger drove into the parking lot Monday, she saw the door of the back building swinging open.
"The jam was totally splintered out and it was ripped where the lock secures itself," says Lt. Jensen.
All the meat and frozen food stolen was donated by community members. Some of the meat was New York Strip Steak, which has a high price tag.
Lt. Jensen says, "We were grateful for the donation and now it's gone."
The thieves did leave behind juice and cakes in a refrigerator. The damage estimate is around $1000, because one of the freezers is badly damaged.
"One of our freezers was actually left open and all the cooling agent is now gone," says Lt. Jensen, "So we are down one freezer."
Dry foods, fish and chicken wings are all that the Salvation Army has left in their emergency food pantry. More donations have come in as word of the burglary has spread, but replacing $800 worth of food will be difficult.
"We have to ration drastically what a family is getting," says Lt. Jensen, "They're not getting as much as they would have gotten, because of this."
For now, the Salvation Army will try to continue to help the 85-families it helped last month and they've taken precautions to make sure no one can get into the building.
If you like to donate to the Clinton Salvation Army call 563-242-4502. The office is open 10am until 3pm, Monday through Friday.
