MONCTON - A Moncton safe haven for fire victims, the homeless, and others who may be in need of basic necessities, has become the target of vandalism.
Big Hearts Small City is a charity organization based in Moncton with a large warehouse to hold donations of clothing, bedding, and other necessities, but twice now the cameras that monitor the warehouse have been targeted by vandals.
“The first time someone took a baseball bat to it, and destroyed it. But in that video, we didn't catch anybody- they were off camera. This time, we actually have someone on video," said Jason Surette, the organizations founder.
Surrette tells CTV that the first video was captured just over two weeks ago, and shows a person climbing up the side of a building, unscrewing the camera and laying it down. The suspect then leaves for a short time and returns to cut the wires loose.
All that is clear in that first video is a red bicycle helmet and a pair of gloves, the second one show the image of a person, but so far RCMP have had no luck idenfitying them.
RCMP say they have checked local pawn shops to see if the cameras had been sold, but so far they have had no luck. They are continuing their investigation and they hope the public can be of assistance in finding this person of interest who appeared on the camera.
"Any charity that has this type of thing happen to them, it's disheartening; because of the work a charity does to help people,” Surette says.
Surette says the camera system cost the charity $600, which would have been enough to cover rent for a fire victim.
But there has been a bit of light at the end of this unfortunate stream of events.
Fortunately for the organization, John Morrison, owner of the secretly company Thief Busters, stepped up to help.
"Obviously they don't have a lot of money, they run it on donations, and I said 'look, I'll do the best I can to help you. I'll do it for whatever the equipment costs, and I'll do the wire and some parts and my labour for free," Morrison tells CTV Atlantic.
“I do like giving, I do like helping people in need,” he adds.
So although the suspect has yet to be caught, Big Hearts Small City has been given some peace of mind knowing that there are others out there with hearts as big as theirs.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kate Walker.
