HILO — Someone stole a water heater from a Hilo nonprofit serving some of the area’s most vulnerable children.
Now, the Boys and Girls Club of the Big Island is hoping the community will help locate the stolen piece of equipment for its dishwasher at the Hilo clubhouse, donate money to replace it or locate the perpetrator.
Boys and Girls Club offers a “fun, safe and supervised place after school to be engaged, to learn and to grow.” It provides homework support, wellness programming, physical activity and classes.
The clubhouse water heater was vandalized a couple of weeks ago. Afterward, fencing was installed around it.
But whoever took the water heater ripped the cage open to get at the relatively new piece of equipment.
The first act of vandalism was dangerous.
“They ripped off the propane line and propane was just, like, leaking,” said Jasmine Branco, director of development. The line was repaired.
But when the theft happened early Tuesday, the perpetrator apparently was “polite enough” to turn the propane off, Branco said.
“They’re really doing a disservice to the most needy kids in our community,” said Boys and Girls Club of the Big Island CEO Chad Cabral.
Police were notified as soon as staff noticed the equipment missing, he said.
During summer, the Boys and Girls Club provides breakfast and lunch for about 100 keiki a day, Cabral said. For some, it can be the only food they get for a given day.
“No meals today for kids, yeah?” Cabral said Tuesday. Cooking and serving food is not possible because the club is unable to sanitize dishes without hot water.
He asks anyone in the community who comes across someone trying to sell a water heater to call authorities.
Cabral said anyone who can help with replacement costs for the water heater can contact the club’s Hilo office at 961-5536.
“We’re a struggling nonprofit,” he said. “We don’t have the means to go out and buy another water heater.”
The situation, Cabral said, is heartbreaking.
“People are taking from the community — kids — that, a lot of them, are struggling,” he said.