DOTHAN, Ala. – The first incident took place close to six months ago.
“We had an older truck at that time and we came in to work one day and we were ready to go do pick ups we do pick ups so we can get stuff for the store and we came to work that day and the catalytic converter was gone off that truck,” said Donna Clemmons – Executive Director of Wiregrass Habitat for Humanity.
Fast forward to present day.
“And the same thing happened again we came to work and during the night someone came in and totally sawed off the catalytic converter off the truck,” said Clemmons.
While both crimes were a blow to this organization, this latest incident was even more heartbreaking.
“We worked so hard in the fall we call came together our board members came together the community came together everybody came together and helped us raise over 57,000 dollars for this truck and so we were able to buy a brand new truck that we needed so desperately for our store and we’ve only have it for about two months,” said Clemmons.
All funds were raised during the pandemic. The loss of this truck will set the Habitat for Humanity back for at least one week.
“Our box truck that we have for our restore is what we use to go pick up donations and we depend on donations for the thrift store and that’s how we make income and that’s how we take care of our operating expenses and also build houses with that money,” said Clemmons.
They only have one simple message who whoever is doing this.
“You’re not only hurting us and inconveniencing us and costing us money but it is money that we raise and we work really hard for that we could use to help other people whether it’s to repair their houses their roofs any critical bills in their house or building a new house or even people coming in the store to shop that other wise wouldn’t be able to afford it so you’re not just hurting us you’re hurting all the people that we try to help every day that’s our mission to help other people,” said Clemmons.
The Wiregrass Habitat for Humanity will be rescheduling all pick-ups for this week with hopes to begin them again next week. In the meantime, you are encouraged to drop items off at the store or call to schedule a pick-up for when they are back up and running.
