Ypsilanti Meals on Wheel vehicles vandalized costing thousands in damages
YPSILANTI TWP., Mich. (FOX 2) - Several vans at Meals on Wheels in Ypsilanti were vandalized, not once - but twice over the weekend - leaving thousands of dollars in damages.
"Not only did they get vandalized in the overnight hours on Friday, but they came back vandalized again on the overnight hours on Sunday," said Barbara Niess-May,
Niess-Mayu is the CEO and president of Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels.
"Not only did they get vandalized in the overnight hours on Friday, but they came back vandalized again on the overnight hours on Sunday," she said.
Twice in 48 hours the vans at Meals on Wheels was targeted by vandals.
"The first was basically just some broken windows and we saw some rocks around," she said. "Then when they came back, they found bigger rocks and did a lot more damage which really impacted our ability to get meals out on Monday."
Four of their seven vehicles, destroyed.
"Once windshields get damaged to a certain point all the electrical around it got damaged," she said. "They climbed up on top of one of the vans and dented the roof of a van."
She says they were able to rent vans to deliver food to households that day. They typically do 300 homes a day.
"(It is costing) approximately $17,000," she said. "Once we take into consideration our deductible, what insurance may or may not cover. The rental vans, and in addition to that, some ancillary costs related to it."
These past few days have been difficult. - $17,000 is a lot of money. But the silver lining she says, has been the community rallying around them.
"It’s really touching when we see people that are not necessarily in our orbit giving $25, $50 just saying, 'We’re so sorry this happened to you,'" Niess-May said.
She added that folks around town got the vans towed for them free of charge, and asked how they can help.
She would ultimately like to build a garage to prevent this from happening again - and is grateful for their concern - and as for the people responsible, she hopes they are caught, but more than that, they heal.
"I’ve seen the power of restorative justice," she said. "I’ve seen the power of working with young people for them to understand the impact of what happened."
