Thief steals catalytic converter off Weymouth mobile food pantry

ROCKLAND (CBS) - Pamela Denholm spent Thursday and Friday not preparing for food shipments like she usually does as the Executive Director of the Weymouth Food Pantry, but instead, by making phone calls, desperate for a truck rental.

"The timing could not have been worse," she told WBZ. "End of the month, August 31, just before Labor Day weekend. It's a big house moving weekend, it's a big college move-in weekend. . . There's no van rentals available. I mean it's just been a bear of the thing."

The mobile food pantry is typically on the road every day, but is currently sidelined at a warehouse in Rockland, because thieves stole the catalytic converter right off of it.

 
Denholm was "just horrified" when the discovery was made after the truck was running unusually loudly. 

"I mean we are a community service. You know we exist at the generosity of others. It's not like we have unlimited resources or whatever to resolve the issue," she said.

Surveillance video from another nearby business appeared to show thieves stealing the converters off several cars at a construction company, too. The car part has become popular to steal since the metals that make it up have increased in value.

Without the truck on the road, the Weymouth Food Pantry struggles to serve the hundreds of families it helps each day, just as school is about to get started and the need for food usually increases by about 30%.

 "This is the time of year when we get really busy," Denholm said. "Back to school expenses come in to play, the weather starts to cool, people have heating bills, etc."

Because of serious supply chain issues, the pantry doesn't have a date when the truck will be fixed, because the part isn't available. In the meantime, a local realty group is lending the pantry its much smaller truck until they can find a U-Haul or another rental.

Denholm believes the thief knew who he or she was stealing from. 

"The truck has a big 'Weymouth Food Pantry' on the side. It's kind of impossible to miss," she explained.

Her message for the person who did this: "Good Lord," she said. "I just hope you needed it way more than all the 400 families in Weymouth needed it, because it was a very unkind thing to do."

The pantry does have insurance, so the $11,000 price tag will likely be covered, but the stress of delivery without the truck will be hard to cover. If you'd like to help the food pantry, information can be found at the link here.