Someone looking for quick cash cut the locks on a nonprofit’s donation boxes last week.
Haines Friends of Recycling board president Melissa Aronson said an employee discovered the cut locks at the nonprofit’s Small Tracts Road location last Friday.
There is no way of knowing how much money was in the metal cans, but Aronson had emptied them two days before the cut locks were found.“We have no idea if there was anything in there,” Aronson said.
On Aug. 26, business owner Helen Mooney reported a break-in and theft of merchandise at her Old Haines Highway consignment shop What’s in Store.
“I guess we have a little bit of a petty crime spree going on,” Aronson said.
Haines Friends of Recycling has replaced the locks on the donation boxes.
“It’s sad that we have a town where I think most people are very honest and most of us care about each other and try to help one another. It’s sad to see something like that happen,” Aronson said.
Aronson said she isn’t hopeful that law enforcement will find the culprit. “Just like the cars that were broken into last summer: nothing has apparently ever come of that,” she said.
Haines Friends of Recycling is staffed year-round by one employee who works 20 hours per week. The nonprofit also hires a seasonal employee to work 10 hours per week during the summer.