I don’t usually post stuff like this, but this is sickening. Earlier this morning a meals on wheels vehicle (1997 Green Plymoth Voyager) was stolen from Senior Services of Albany. If anyone has any leads please contact Jane Schramm. Below is an article from CBS6-
Albany-- With just two days to go until thanksgiving volunteers across the Capital Region are busy preparing dinner for those in need. For elderly people who can’t leave their home delivery is the only way for them to celebrate the holiday but now that luxury might be in jeopardy.
“This is really tough because we have so much food to transport and we only have a limited amount of vehicles to transport to make it happen so it really couldn’t have happened at a worse time” says Jane Schramm, Executive Director, Senior Services of Albany.
Tuesday morning Senior Services of Albany an organization that serves seniors and their families realized one of their meals on wheels food delivery vehicles had been stolen. The theft happened Monday night from their parking area at 20 Rensselaer Street in Albany.
“It had equipment inside of it to help transport the meals, both hot and cold equipment so it kind of caught us by surprise."
Schramm says $400 worth of equipment was inside the dark green Plymouth Voyager. “Even more remarkable is that somebody took a van that actually has painted writing on the sides of it.”
This isn’t the first time one of their vehicles was stolen. Back on march 22nd 2000 CBS 6 reported on a similar case. A mini van was sitting at the meals on wheels loading dock in the back of a housing authority building in Albany. The driver put forty meals in the back of the van, left the keys in the ignition and someone drove off. The van was later found in Hudson.
“It really puts us in a very financially challenged position because we need the vehicles to get the meals out. We deliver almost a thousand meals a day” says Schramm.
They cover all of Albany county and parts of Rensselaer and Schenectady counties as well.
“They’re home-bound frail elderly; they need to be to them within a two hour time window. So having one less vehicle makes it very tough to have to get everybody all their meals within that timeframe.”
They’re now down to ten delivery vehicles during one of their busiest times of the year, but Schramm is staying positive and has a message for whoever stole the van.
“If they find it in their heart to leave it somewhere in Albany and throw us a bone and let us know where it might be we would truly appreciate it” says Schramm.
The stolen mini-van is a 1997 Plymouth Voyager with license plate number DHE-5188. If you’d like to donate of have information about the van contact Jane Schramm at
518-465-3322.
Read more: http://www.cbs6albany.com/articles/albany-1289092-services-delivery.html#ixzz1eUOFvrFf