Second Harvest delivery trucks left inoperable after Thanksgiving theft

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Second Harvest is expecting to be tens of thousands of dollars in the hole after an overnight break-in at its Etobicoke facility left nearly all of its delivery vehicles inoperable.

“I mean, it’s just devastating to us, especially on Thanksgiving, right?” chief executive Lori Nikkel told the Toronto Sun by phone. “Like, you look at our trucks and they literally say in big letters, ‘Helping Torontonians in need, feeding Canadians in need.’

“They’re so clearly for a charitable venture supporting people that need food and I think that was extra disappointing in itself. Like, hey, we shouldn’t be stealing at all. But why is a charity an easier target?”

The incident happened just after midnight on Thanksgiving Sunday and was captured on surveillance footage that Second Harvest shared with the Toronto Sun. In it, two hooded individuals wander into view at the Second Harvest facility on The East Mall before cutting into the vehicles’ exhaust systems and stealing the catalytic converters.

‘Knew exactly what they were doing’

Nikkel, whose organization rescues food from its partners and redistributes meals to those in need through non-profits, said it took the thieves about 4 ½ minutes to cut through the fence and steal the converters on seven of their eight delivery trucks.

“They knew exactly what they were doing,” she said. “This did not take long, so I don’t think this was their first rodeo, you know? Like, they’ve done this before.”

A spokesperson for Toronto Police confirmed officers received a call about the theft on Sunday afternoon, but was unable to comment further except to say that police were aware of the incident and were investigating.

In the meantime, Nikkel said the focus is on repairing the vehicles, which she estimates will cost about $70,000 to $80,000. But that doesn’t include repairing damage to their fence and measures to deter such thefts in the future.

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Local deliveries likely affected

The theft also means that Second Harvest only has one operational vehicle available at the moment for direct deliveries in Toronto.

“These trucks are likely going to take weeks to be fixed and we don’t have the money for them and we don’t have money for rentals,” Nikkel said. “Even if we can get rentals, we’re just kind of up against the wall a little bit here.”

Nikkel said that she “hates asking,” but anyone who can help is encouraged to donate on the Second Harvest website.

“We don’t anticipate these things and we don’t prepare for this,” she said, “and everything is already more expensive. Already the cost of diesel has gone up, the cost of steel’s gone up and trucks have gone up.

“We’re just getting annihilated from every side right now.”

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