DALLAS — When school let out, the kids and parents lined up Friday afternoon.
Volunteers from the Ledbetter Eagle Ford Community Pantry passed out toys and donated sandwiches.
But for all the joy the food pantry spreads, a thief nearly stole it this Christmas season.
Two times in less than a week, a thief broke into the food pantry run by LaGloria de Dios Iglesia Bautista on Nomas Street in West Dallas.
On Sunday, a thief broke in and took rented equipment. Then on Wednesday, a thief broke in through a window, ransacked the pantry, and took several recently purchased speakers worth several thousand dollars.
“I was in tears,” said Henry Martinez, the food pantry’s executive director. “To be at Christmas, it just hurts.”
The pantry feeds thousands every month.
“We need security cameras,” Martinez said. “It's something that we can’t afford at this time.”
Police believe the same person did both break-ins. They did fingerprints, however.
Martinez is just thankful that the toys they’d collected were in another building and didn’t get stolen.
After hearing about the burglaries, Umesh Shah showed up to help. He told Martinez that his restaurant, Big Tex Taqueria on Singleton Boulevard, was donating 10% of its sales from Dec. 26 to Dec. 31 to the church.
“They don’t need to steal,” Shah said. “They can just come and ask, and they will help.”
Shah’s offer to help brought a smile to Martinez’s face.
“He's been helping a lot. I didn't expect him to come here and say that he was going to help us,” he said. “We need more people like him.”
Volunteers from the church’s food pantry will be back out throughout the Christmas weekend, helping those in need. No thief could steal their joy of giving back to their neighbors.