A smashed front door and two shattered locks greeted Andrea Charest as she pulled up early Sunday morning to the community run food bank and thrift store that she founded and manages in Listowel.
“It’s hard not to take this personally, because there’s a huge, personal component for the team, and for myself. But the reality is, you know, we know that property crimes, for the most part are not personal. They’re a crime of opportunity,” says Charest.
It Takes a Village was broken into, in the early morning hours of Easter Sunday. Police are looking for two suspects. In images released by the Perth County OPP, the suspects appear to be a man and a woman, wearing dark coloured hoodies, caught on downtown surveillance cameras.
Thieves not only caused substantial damage, breaking into the volunteer run thrift store and food bank, they stole cash and gift cards, that ultimately help those in need in the community.
“Not only is it a physical breakdown that has caused us to shut down, but, you know, we had many, many, many gift cards that were stolen. And those gift cards, are what, for the most part, supply our food pantry and help us to feed the community. So it’ s a really impactful crime,” says Charest.
Stealing from a non-profit that has helped the community’s less fortunate and unhoused with food, clothing, and support since 2018, hurts, says Charest. Enough to consider, not reopening, at all.
“When you give so much of yourself, to ensuring that everyone is looked after and heard and seen and included, something like this, it hits the bottom of your soul. You really do sit there and think, you know, is it all worth it? Right? Like, is what we have been doing worth it, when something like this affects that. It really does rock the boat,” says Charest.
Fellow downtown businesses, who support It Takes a Village, and the work they do, feel it, too.
“We go out of our way to help people in the downtown area, in downtown Listowel. We try to really work as a community, so when this happens, it hurts,” says Tim Bakelaar, of Bakelaar Jewellers.
About 100 people use It Takes a Village, each day, says Charest, for food, clothing, and support. The building will be closed this week, for repairs, but should re-open next week, she says. When the perpetrators are caught, Charest, says she’ll push for restorative justice and community service, not jail.
“We have to show not only the perpetrators, but we have to show the community that we expect more from people. And, I have to believe that bringing the humanity and the humility into that is going to be impactful, and create a better change than a smaller sentence,” she says.
While the building owner has insurance for the damage to the front doors, fundraising to cover the internal damage and stolen gift cards, is currently underway, for It Takes a Village.
“Smaller non-profits in these rural areas do not have the financial means to repair such substantial damage from these crimes,” says Charest.
You can help out It Takes a Village by emailing listowelittakesavillage@gmail.com.
