A huge setback for the Limmense Corneliuskerk: a thief stole money intended to send packages for war children yesterday afternoon. The packages with the ‘shipping costs’ were ready to be sent. Not only the money is gone, the boxes are also badly damaged.
“Bah, a bad area”, pastor Mike Nagtegaal of the Corneliuskerk calls the theft and destruction.
Inside the church were more than 40 filled shoeboxes ready to be shipped. On each box was an envelope containing five euros, which is approximately the cost of sending the package. Nagtegaal estimates that about hundreds of euros have been taken. In addition, one of the shoeboxes is also completely empty. “Those boxes are decorated and packed with care by children. If you do something like that, you’re just a pancake,” says the pastor.
It is unclear how the thief got in. There are no signs of burglary in the church building. “I think that’s why someone forgot to lock the door,” says Nagtegaal. “But I think the intruder also knew that there was money here.”
“If you do something like that, you’re just an awful pancake”
Mark Bonne was shocked by the news. “That someone is doing this is ridiculous,” he told NH Nieuws. Mark would like to reimburse the money with his company. “It’s really about the kids. We want the boxes to end up in the right place.”
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A police spokesman said that the local police officer stopped by the church this morning. “The report has yet to come in to us,” she says. “We don’t know exactly what happened yet. We really hope someone saw something, to find out who did it.”
Flyer for more shoe boxes
In the coming days, the pastor and all the volunteers will fix up the decorated boxes. Someone has also offered to fill the looted shoebox with toys. “I want to give this a positive spin,” says the pastor.
“That’s why I flyered about the shoe box campaign during the entry into Limmen today. The response was very positive. So I hope that more boxes will arrive at us.”
A Sinterklaas party will be organized by the church community on Saturday 19 November. The pastor then hopes that more boxes will come in. After this celebration the packages will be collected.
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