After a single determined burglar knocked a huge hole through the wall of the Empty Stocking Fund’s warehouse Wednesday morning, the metro Atlanta community donated more than $54,000 to the nonprofit organization’s recovery fund. In about one day, the organization has raised more than double its original goal of $25,000.
Christmas weekend looked bleak for the Empty Stocking Fund on Wednesday morning when volunteers opened the organization’s 24,000-square-foot warehouse in southwest Atlanta and found a nasty surprise: Someone had knocked a huge hole through a cinderblock wall overnight and stole thousands of dollars worth of donated gifts.
According to Manda Hunt, the nonprofit organization’s executive director, her team still does not know how much was taken during its busiest time of the year.
“It looks like a war zone on this side. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” Hunt said during a phone call with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I mean, that’s ambition. If you put that kind of energy toward good work, imagine what you could accomplish, right?”
Credit: Empty Stocking Fund
Credit: Empty Stocking Fund
Hunt knows a thing or two about doing good work. She has worked with the Empty Stocking Fund since 2004 and took over as executive director in 2010. The highly rated nonprofit acquires new items and goods in large quantities to offer a variety of gifts that parents can pick out themselves as if they were shopping. Each December, parents and guardians of children who qualify for state benefits are able to register to “shop” for gifts. During the summer, the organization provides back-to-school supplies to teachers and students at underprivileged schools.
With a large hole in the warehouse wall and a history of persistent thefts and burglaries, Hunt said the Empty Stocking Fund won’t be able to distribute as many gifts as they’d hoped.
“I’m going to do my damnedest to continue to distribute on a very direct basis with the orders that we have already packed,” Hunt said. “But we can’t have groups of volunteers in here.”
“We just can’t even have people in the building right now,” Hunt added.
Around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Empty Stocking Fund’s Facebook page posted a link to a fundraiser after getting questions from people who wanted to help.
“We’re not giving up and we REFUSE to let this Grinch steal Christmas,” the organization said. Since then, donations have poured in. The nonprofit has so far raised more than 200% of its goal.
According to Hunt, the Empty Stocking Fund moved to its new facility in July 2020. Through a generous donation from general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie, they were able to renovate and add offices. It was the first time in the organization’s history they managed to have offices at the same site as their storage warehouse, Hunt said.
However, during the renovation, Hunt said the warehouse was broken into nearly every night. At the time, there was not much inventory stored there, so thefts were minimal. But other costs began to add up.
Someone broke into the warehouse through a skylight, which had to be resealed. New doors were bent and destroyed when they were forced open by crowbars. Now a large hole in a structural wall will need to be evaluated by an engineer to ensure the building is safe once it’s repaired, though Hunt said that cost would be shouldered by the landlord.
Hunt believes that many of the break-ins have been perpetrated by the same man. She also thinks he may have found other ways to steal from the Empty Stocking Fund’s inventory as well.
“We’ve had a couple of incidents during distribution,” Hunt said. “It’s a busy time, families are waiting to get their gifts, and they would tell us that some guy just came up, jumped up and grabbed a bunch of gifts and walked off.”
Orders prepared by volunteers have mysteriously gone missing, Hunt said. Video footage captured by security cameras in and around the warehouse has shown what appears to be the same man forcing his way inside.
“It’s really hard to keep your eye on the ball and focus on the good that we’re doing, which I know we are, but it just makes you sick,” Hunt said.
Despite being burglarized three days before Christmas, she believes the organization can end the year on a high note.
“We have worked so hard and done so much,” Hunt said. “We’ve already successfully distributed gifts to 20,000 kids. I’m determined to end on a high note, and I’m going to be down there with my kids tomorrow to get as many of these out as I possibly can.”
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
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