Over $10K in equipment and food items stolen from London, Ont., high school

B. Davison Secondary School in London, Ont., was broken into early morning last Saturday. The school lost more than $10,000 in stolen equipment and food products.

The food items were to be used in the school's annual Christmas Hamper Program. This is a collaboration of staff and students, who put together food hampers which are given out to the school community. 

"At about 3:27 a.m. on Saturday, there were a few individuals who made their way into the cafeteria and went into our kitchen fridge that was filled with food that we were preparing for our hamper," said Renee Shave, the school's principal. 

"When we arrived on Monday, all of the stuff was removed from the freezer and other food had been tampered with," she said. They had to throw out majority of the food as a precaution, since they weren't sure what was still viable. 

Along with the food items, PA systems, and several guitars - both acoustic and electric -  were also stolen. 

Starting again from ground zero 

The school's goal this year was to put together more than 150 hampers, and they were well on their way in doing so. Staff and students had been working on this project for about six weeks. 

Last year, the team put out over 130 hampers and now they have to start all over again. "We're finding ourselves in a position where we just have to start all over again," said Shave.

"This is such a collaborative process, almost everybody in the school is involved in some way, the most devastating piece for me was that our kids have done so much work and they were so proud of putting together these hampers for the community." 

The school's organizes these hampers to ensure that there is food security for students and their families in the two weeks while they're on holiday and not attending school. 

The school has gone back into preparation mode again with making frequent trips to grocery stores. They say they've had organizations reach out to them about doing food drives to lend the team an extra hand. 

A resilient community 

Shave explained that while she is really disappointed that this happened short of a few weeks before winter break, she is appreciative of her staff that always comes together to support the students.

"We're super resilient and everyone is still on board, our goal of 150 hampers still stands and we will get it done some way," she said.  

Although a police report has been filed, Shave believes its unlikely that they will find out who was behind this break-in and how many people were involved. 

The principal is hopeful that the school will continue to get more donations. She and her team of staff and students plan to make more trips to grocery stores and get everything organized before the winter break. 

Anyone looking to donate can contact the school directly, and drop off non-perishable food items and baked goods during school hours.