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LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Thieves have targeted a Denver nonprofit that helps feed hungry Colorado families — again.
In September, Contact7 viewers supplied a new trailer to Joy's Kitchen after it was stolen from a church parking lot. And it just happened again to the same business in the same place.
Kathy Stanley, who runs Joy's Kitchen, said it's hard to help without the items that were stolen.
"I'm really concerned for the choices that person is making," she said. "I just pray they make better choices."
Operating on a shoestring budget, her nonprofit makes daily deliveries across the Denver metro area, distributing food to 250 hungry families each week.
On Sunday, holiday thieves stole a trailer filled with 350 bags of food from the Westwood Community Church parking lot in Lakewood.
It's the second Joy's Kitchen trailer taken from the same parking lot in three months.
"It took a minute to really sink in that it was truly gone," she said. "I don't think if they knew the impact they had. They probably would have done what they did, and even if they did, it's not worth carrying that anger in our hearts."
After the first theft, Stanley moved her two trailers to the front of the church for safety. But it didn't stop the bold bandits.
Stanley said she'll now have to make her deliveries in one trailer. But she refuses to let this latest setback stop her mission to help others.
"You can live in that space of being angry or you can resolve to change it and turn it into a blessing of some kind," she said. "We're not going to let one bad act tamper with 1,000 families getting food next month."
Stanley said she has finally purchased surveillance cameras and has started raising money to buy a bigger cargo van.
