The St Mary’s Catholic Parish in Dandenong has been dealt a crushing blow after their food donation van was stolen, dumped and declared a write-off.
A trailer, with $1000 worth of food donations, was also taken but is yet to be located.
The van and trailer belonging to the church contained food donations from local organisations to be collected by members of the community from the church on Foster Street, in conjunction with the St Vincent de Paul Society’s Dandenong branch.
St Vincent de Paul volunteer and church member Joe Van Es was taking a short break from collecting donations when he discovered the van was missing early on Friday afternoon, 12 November.
“I delivered some food to St Mary’s and then drove to my house, went inside, and left the vehicle parked out the front,” Joe told the Star Journal.
“I went back 20 minutes later and the vehicle was gone.”
Victoria Police located the van in Springvale near the intersection of Wareham Street and Ameil Street on the afternoon of Monday 15 November after they were called to a collision involving the van at around 4:20pm, however the male and female occupants had fled prior to police arrival.
Dandenong Frontline Tactical Unit and Dandenong uniform police arrested a male and a female in Springvale a short time later.
The male was charged with theft of motor vehicle, handling stolen goods, committing an indictable offence whilst on bail and various driving offences.
He was remanded in custody.
The female is expected to be charged with theft of motor vehicle and committing an indictable offence whilst on bail.
The white 1985 Toyota HiAce suffered significant damage to the windscreen and the front left side of the vehicle.
“The bull bar, bumper bar and front panel was dinted, and the body of the vehicle was twisted,” Joe said.
“The door on the left hand side is squashed and the roof has buckled just above the door.”
The van had been used by the church since 1985 to distribute food, clothing and furniture for those in need in the Dandenong district.
“On average I put out roughly a tonne of food each week,” Joe said.
“I put it on the shelves and people just come along to take it.
“I get about 200-300 loaves of bread, and there’s pallets of fruit and vegetables.”
Joe has asked members of the public to keep an eye out for the trailer.
“It’s a black two-wheel trailer, three metres long by 1.8 metres wide, and it has ‘St Vincent de Paul’ welded onto the towbar,” Joe said.
Anyone with any information regarding the incident is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or crimestoppers.com.au, or contact the Dandenong Police Station.
