OAKVILLE, Mo. – A holiday grinch hit an Oakville church over the weekend, stealing a trailer filled with equipment used to help feed the homeless. St. Louis County police are looking for whomever is responsible.
It all happened at the Faith Lutheran Church on Telegraph and the crime was caught on a church surveillance camera. The video shows a Ford SUV pulling into the church’s back parking lot where the trailer was kept just before 5 a.m. this past Sunday.
The SUV leaves and then comes back a short time later with its lights off.
Minutes after that, the SUV pulls away again but this time with the white 10 to 12-foot trailer attached to the back of it.
“We want to communicate they we are about light, about goodness, about Christ, about helping those who are the last, the least, the lonely, the lost, and yet here we have what someone taking from those of us who are trying to help those folks,” said church pastor John Brunette.
Brunette said the trailer was used to help feed the homeless primarily in north St. Louis.
What’s worse is that the trailer was filled with about $2,000 worth of equipment.
“There’s food warmers in there, there’s tables, there’s canopies, there’s chairs,” he said.
Brunette said the suspect or suspects broke the lock on a second trailer, which was also on the back lot, but they did not take that trailer or anything in it. That second trailer is used to help distribute clothes to the homeless.
Brunette said he had a message for the person or persons who stole the trailer.
“What they’re doing is darkness, we believe it’s sinful, and yet there’s hope for them too,” Brunette said.
“God will provide. We know that. (The trailer) will have to be replaced and we’ll have to find the funds to be able to do that.”
Meanwhile, St. Louis County police described the stolen trailer as a 2006 Pace American brand with Missouri license plate 55C2SS.
Pastor Brunette said he isn’t looking for donations to replace the trailer. He said if people want to help, they should donate money to groups assisting the homeless.
