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Thanksgiving food stolen from food bank

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by JANE MCCARTHY / KING 5 News

Posted on November 19, 2009 at 11:59 AM

Updated Thursday, Nov 19 at 12:40 PM

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Rainier Valley Food Bank
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SEATTLE – Just a week before Thanksgiving, someone has stolen much of the food at the Rainer Valley Food Bank that was supposed to go to people in need for the holiday.

"200 pounds of potatoes. A couple hundred pounds of onions and at least 30 crates full of canned goods that we'd collected on a food drive last weekend," said Sam Osborne, the food bank's executive director.

The storage container where the food was kept is relatively new. That's because, in the past year, the food bank has gone from serving $5,000 people a month to twice that. Now, the scramble is on to replace the food that was taken, because the food that was in there was to be given out on Saturday for people's Thanksgiving meals.

Some people are already stepping up in the wake of the news. Tony Nichols dropped off a $100 check.

"We just felt really bad, so we wanted to take and help out with what we could," said Nichols.

It's kindness like that which re-energizes people's faith at the food bank. Still, there are so many questions for whoever performed this pitiful crime.

"Did you really need 200 pounds of onions? And what are you going to do with that? And if you would have come in on a Wednesday or Saturday, you could have come in and we would have happily and gladly given you  enough to feed your family for free," said Osborne.

Food donations are accepted at the Rainer Valley Food Bank between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

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horribleron said on November 19, 2009 at 12:37 PM

I can't think of anything more low life than robbing a food bank.

collegekid said on November 19, 2009 at 1:45 PM

It was probably some punk teenagers that thought they were being funny. I hope the people responsible are found and punished.

whomadewho said on November 19, 2009 at 3:44 PM

I have a feeling the law enforcement in the area won't have a great deal of trouble catching the little punks that pulled this off. Little punks are generally really stupid in thier actions and i would imagine they would leave ALL kinds of clues behind. Have fun little punks when your names hit the papers, and have lots of fun and laughs when your parents have to come and pick you up... IDIOTS !!!!!

hmmmm said on November 19, 2009 at 3:49 PM

That's messed up...

hmmmm said on November 19, 2009 at 3:55 PM

Some punk teenagers don't haul off 200 punds of potatoes. Get real. How many punk teenagers do you know that would haul off 200 punds of potatoes, plus what 30 crates of canned goods. That' what another couple hundred pounds. All for nothing. What they gonna sell them on the streets? I really hope our police force has more common sense.

cherryblossom said on November 19, 2009 at 9:48 PM

That is just heartbreaking!! Why in the world would someone rob a FOOD BANK?? And I worked to collect food for that. I'm so glad so many donors, like Costco and others are saving the day. I think it's a little judgemental to say that it was of course "punk teenagers" who id it. We don't know why or who would do that, but just know it can hurt people's feelings when everyone is always blaming things on teenagers. It really could have been teenagers though, we just don't know. But that's not the issue.

cmeeverett said on November 19, 2009 at 11:48 PM

i bet some restaurant is going to make a lot of money selling Xgiving dinners to their customers off the free food they just aquired. Xgiving is one of the busiest food nights for restaurant's. A LOT of money to be made. With all that free food, sold at premium restaurant prices, it becomes staggering what they could bring in. Somebody wants a motive? I'd say that is definately one.