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It wasn’t the way Kathy Williams had hoped to start her Monday.
As the program coordinator for the Senior Lunch program in Edgecliff, Williams is routinely the first one to arrive at a meal site housed in a portable classroom on the former campus of Pratt Elementary School. On the morning of June 8, she walked into the makeshift dining area to find overturned tables and chairs, strewn food and walls scrawled with graffiti.
“I wanted to close the door and walk away when I saw it,” Williams said.
Initial estimates of the property damage ran into the thousands of dollars, according to police reports. The vandalism included a pair of clocks that were torn down and destroyed, along with a portable stereo. Part of a wall had been kicked in. The remains of a outside garbage dumpster were scattered across the floor.
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| Members of the Edgecliff community rallied to restore a Meals on Wheels lunch site after a break-in nearly two months ago. The location, housed in a former portable classroom at Pratt Elementary School, will celebrate its one-year anniversary in September. Pictured from left to right are Kathy Williams, Senior Lunch program coordinator, George Hibbs, Pam Almeida, Valley Meals on Wheels director, Joyce Allenton and Don Olmsted. Photo by: Craig Howard |
“You couldn’t even walk in here,” said Pam Almeida, director of Valley Meals on Wheels, the umbrella organization that facilitates the Edgecliff meal site. “I had no idea how we were going to clean it up.”
Police would later determine that four teen-age suspects had broken into the building over the weekend. Investigation of the case is still underway with formal charges expected to be filed soon.
Before the lunch hour arrived that Monday, Williams put out calls to seniors who might be stopping by that day. The site has averaged between 10 to 20 clients on weekdays since opening in September of last year. A suggested donation of $3.50 is requested for each meal, though no one is ever turned away for inability to pay.
“I would say we’ve had about 50 different people here since we started almost a year ago,” Williams said. “It’s become a reliable gathering place.”
The aftermath of the break-in also meant that a food pantry, which provides non-perishable groceries to individuals and families throughout Edgecliff, would be temporarily closed.
George Hibbs was one of the first local residents to dig in and begin the clean-up effort after word got out about the incident. Hibbs has been dropping by the meal site since last autumn and said it provides seniors with “an opportunity to sit and visit.”
Hibbs helped refurbish damaged furniture and remove graffiti from walls and tables. Before long, the room was beginning to resemble itself again.
“I tried to help out as much as I could,” Hibbs said. “Every little bit makes a difference.”
Volunteers with the Edgecliff Sheriff’s Community Oriented Policing Effort were on the scene that Monday, clearing away garbage and pledging their support. Workers from the Edgecliff Neighborhood Center next door to the meal site also pitched in.
“I think if it would have stopped with the incident, it would have been disheartening,” Williams said. “But the community stepped up to help. It was clear that they value what we’re doing here.”
Brian Smith of Sterling Cleaning Services was familiar the benefits of Meals on Wheels after donating time as a volunteer driver several years ago. He has continued to provide free cleaning services for the agency ever since. After the break-in, Smith received a call asking for assistance.
“When I got there, the carpet was just awful,” Smith said. “I think the world of Meals on Wheels. When they called me, it wasn’t a question that I would help.”
Smith spent about three hours scrubbing the carpet. It was one of many resources that allowed the meal site to open again on June 11, just three days after Williams had first discovered the damage.
Williams recalled how one SCOPE volunteer told her that those who helped with the clean-up effort arrived “with a goal of restoring the hope.”
“That’s what they did,” Williams said. “This is how neighbors look out for each other.”
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By
Craig Howard
