A Canadian food importing business has come forward with a significant donation to help Second Harvest, which had seven of its trucks vandalized over the Thanksgiving weekend at its Etobicoke headquarters. The national charity, which is located at 120 The East Mall, just north of The Queensway, said on early Sunday morning, suspects entered its truck yard, cut through the vehicles’ exhaust systems, and stole their catalytic converters. It all happened in less than five minutes, CEO Lori Nikkel later told CP24. Second Harvest, Canada’s largest food rescue organization, is estimating that the cost of the repairs will be $80,000. The affected vehicles, Nikkel added, could be out of service for two to three weeks. They are currently at an auto repair shop, which is still working to ascertain the extent of the damage, she noted. Nikkel said Second Harvest has auto insurance coverage but the deductible for each truck is significant and making a claim could impact premiums, not to mention other costs they’ll need to incur for more security and vehicle rentals, as well as the installation of protective cages around the exhaust systems of the trucks in their fleet. On Wednesday morning, a news conference was held at Second Harvest, where the organization thanked the community for its support and announced a significant monetary and in-kind donation from Aurora Foods. The North York company has donated $60,000 and three pallets of dry and canned goods, and is becoming an ongoing Second Harvest donor, Nikkel said. Second Harvest’s CEO went on to say that mayoral candidate Brad Bradford reached out to them on Sunday after hearing about their situation and advised some members of the media. Communications staff from the charitable organization initially contacted CP24 to share details about what had occurred. Nikkel added that he also helped facilitate the connection with Aurora Foods, which she said did not previously know about Second Harvest. “We are so incredibly grateful,” she said. Bradford attended Wednesday’s news conference. “We are truly blessed from the generosity of Joe (Moscato, the president of Aurora Foods) to help respond to this criminal activity, this moment of crisis, and of course Lori (Nikkel, of Second Harvest) and her team for their ongoing work,” he said, adding, as Toronto’s mayor, public safety would be his “number one priority.” Aurora Foods ‘felt compelled to step up’ Moscato, meanwhile, said they heard about this “senseless act and the impact it had on (Second Harvest) getting food to the communities, and we felt compelled to step up and help where we could.” “For us, it was a simple decision,” he said on Wednesday morning. Moscato added that Second Harvest does an “incredible job rescuing perfectly good food and getting it into the hands of individuals and families who are most in need.” He added that Aurora Foods wanted to do its part to ensure the seven damaged trucks get back on the road as quickly as possible, “so that the good people at Second Harvest can continue doing the fantastic job that they do day in and day out.” Charity grateful for support Nikkel said the “outpouring of love” from the community since the unfortunate news broke on Monday has been heartwarming. “It can feel pretty hopeless, especially when something like this happens and right away, we were filled with hope about the amazing people that are in Toronto that came out with their trucks, with money, with food. … You guys have come out in droves, offered us transportation, trucks, even your own cars when you could. You’ve just been fantastic,” she said, adding the icing on the cake was the donation from Aurora Foods. “We cannot tell you how grateful we are because now we can get those trucks back on the road quicker, getting healthy, fresh food to 1.5 million people in Toronto – children, youth, seniors, families – and all of this is happening because the community came together.” Second Harvest ‘scrambling like crazy’ with less trucks Nikkel said Second Harvest, which works to fight hunger by redistributing surplus food to people in need across the country, says it is “scrambling like crazy” to find a way to get vehicles on the road to distribute food to organizations and people in need. “(Tuesday) was a tough, very tough day. They made it to most of the charities but it meant that we couldn’t pick up food,” she shared. “But this team, I mean, they were here all weekend. They were figuring it out and creating new routes. And again, it’s support like this that makes it possible for Second Harvest to do what we do and we’re so grateful.” Charity’s vehicles previously targeted This isn’t the first time that Second Harvest has been targeted by vandals. On New Year’s Day, four of its trucks, representing a quarter of its fleet, were significantly damaged. Video surveillance captured at that time appears to show an individual pouring water into the gas tanks of their trucks. That incident was also reported to police. Investigation ongoing Toronto police have said they are aware of the latest situation and are probing the matter. On Wednesday, police released images of a suspect vehicle, a black Infiniti G25 four door sedan with black rims. Police said an unknown number of suspects drove into a parking lot, cut the fence, and entered the parking lot of Second Harvest on foot. They then allegedly removed several catalytic converters from trucks in the parking lot before fleeing the scene in the same vehicle they arrived in. This investigation is ongoing and anyone with further information is asked to contact Toronto police at 416-808-2200or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
