SALISBURY, N.C. — Church leaders at the Salvation Army headquarters in Salisbury said vandals ripped apart their food pantry, spray-painted their building and even took a pick-ax to the church’s playground.
Captain Karl Dahlin arrived at the church at 620 Bringle Ferry Road early Sunday morning ahead of services and noticed a pile of furniture, including a television, thrown down a flight of stairs leading to the basement entrance. Capt. Dahlin said people often leave donations for the church’s home store outside the church.
“There was a trail of destruction, and I noticed that our pantry door had been busted open,” he said.
Inside, shelves were knocked over, broken glass littered the floor and food was splattered on doors, floor and on other products in the pantry.
“This Salvation Army Food program is a safety net for those in our community. It’s a place where they know they can go to get help when they can’t make end meet and have to choose between paying an electric bill and buying food. They know they can come here and get food, and what a shame this is," said Capt. Dahlin.
He estimated roughly 400 to 500 families rely on the food pantry every month. While food can be easily replaced, the vandals apparently took a pick-ax to the church’s refrigerator, destroying it and all of the produce and dairy products inside.
“I think that’s what hurt the most was to know that even though food can be replaced, I’ve got a delay in being able to do that because I’ve got to get this equipment fixed first,” Capt, Dahlin said.
In addition to wrecking the food pantry, the vandals also emptied a fire extinguisher, spray-painted a couple of walls and then took the pick-ax to the church’s playground equipment.
“You know we need to respect our community. We all live here; we’re all a part of this community. We should work for each other instead of trying to tear each other down,” he said.
Captain Dahlin said the only thing stolen was candy, leaving him to believe the vandals may have been kids.
He hoped insurance will help replace the refrigerator and said there’s plenty of other food to still give out. For now, a church that helps so many in the community now finds itself in need.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 704-638-5333.