Tacoma charity’s $56K delivery truck gets stolen during Christmas. ‘This is really hard’
.jpg "A truck similar to the one shown was stolen from the Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity warehouse in Tacoma on Tuesday.")
Who, besides The Grinch, steals from a charity?
That’s what staff at the Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity is wondering. They returned from their Christmas holiday Tuesday, Dec. 26, to find their newly purchased $56,000 delivery truck stolen.
Habitat usually takes donations of used vehicles to serve as their pick up and delivery box trucks. But with three stores in Pierce County and rising repair costs, the agency that builds and refurbishes homes for low and moderate income people bought a 2017 Ford F650 box truck in November.
“We’re driving all over Pierce County to pick up donations of furniture and gently used construction supplies,” Sherrana Kildun, Habitat’s chief development officer, said
The trucks are an integral part of the agency’s work.
“And they are used every single day,” she said.
According to Tacoma Police spokesperson detective William Muse, the truck was inside Habitat’s locked South Tacoma warehouse. The thief or thieves also broke into an adjoining business.
“This is really hard,” Kildun said Wednesday, Dec. 27. “Coming back form our holiday vacations, we’re excited to get back to serving our community.”
Habitat has had to reschedule donation pickups, she said.
According to Muse and Kildun, the truck or its Good to Go sticker traveled into the state Route 99 tunnel in Seattle on Wednesday, Dec. 27. The box truck had yet to be painted with Habitat’s logo. It bears Washington license plate number D47708C. If seen, the public is advised to call 911.
Proceeds from the three Habitat stores in Tacoma, Lakewood and Puyallup help build, rehabilitate, and repair homes for families in Pierce County. The agency is building a 12-town home development in Tillicum and three homes in Gig Harbor.
Habitat is also working to purchase 80 single family homes from with the Pierce County Housing Authority and renovate them, Kildun said.
This story was originally published December 27, 2023 at 4:04 PM.
