ALICE, Texas — Surveillance video shows a man stealing donations left at the back door of the Trash and Treasure thrift store in Alice, where the local food pantry is housed. Organizers say some people are justifying the thefts, claiming the items would have been given away anyway.
Everything donated to the thrift store is meant to be sold, with proceeds going directly to fund the food pantry. Lost profit at the thrift store means less food on tables for families in need.
"It is not the first time it's happened, so we invested in some security cameras to see if we could find the culprits and not only have we had people thieving, but people dumping stuff, so we kind of wanted to get an eye on that. We have reported it to the police," Bonnie Whitley said.
The food — bought with proceeds from the thrift store — is handed out every Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Everyone who participates at the Trash and Treasure Thrift Store and food pantry volunteers completely free of charge.
"I know, we have about eight volunteers here and they have at least I'm gonna say 15 to 20 volunteers for the food pantry and again, nobody's profiting, it's all volunteer work, no one's, you know, making money from this, the sales that we do have," Nora Gonzalez said.
Volunteers show up as early as 6 a.m. on Wednesdays to stock shelves and fill boxes before distribution begins at 8 a.m. Cars line up down the block to receive their weekly supply from the food pantry.
"So once a week we distribute food. That's on Wednesdays. volunteers show up, some of them show up before six and start stocking shelves and filling boxes, and then we just start distribution about 8:00," Whitley said.
No charges have been filed at this time. Organizers are asking that people only leave donated items when the store is open — on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Every donated item sold puts money directly toward feeding families in the Alice community.
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