Money for Homeless : Thief Hits Shelter 2nd Time in Days

The first time a burglar broke into the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter in Costa Mesa last week, a computer and about $191 in petty cash were taken.

Two days later, the thief or thieves came back, stealing more money, including a donation for $191 intended to cover the first loss.

“It’s kind of too bad when people take money away from folks already down and out and homeless,” said Peg Schmitz, director of the private, nonprofit shelter which provides 70 beds for homeless families in Orange County.

“This money goes directly to help these people. It’s not overhead money,” Schmitz said.

Costa Mesa police said they have no suspects and no leads in the two thefts, which they said were undoubtedly connected.

The first burglary occurred about 4 p.m. Wednesday, Schmitz said. The intruder broke a window, took an IBM personal computer, four booklets of bus passes, worth $30 each, and the $191 in petty cash, she said.

The cash was to be used as telephone and laundry money to help the homeless prepare themselves for job interviews, she said. The computer was used to keep mailing lists of donors and client records.

By Friday, the shelter had replaced only 50 cents in petty cash but had received $1,400 in donation checks and $38 from a client who had repaid a car repair loan.

The night was so hot, the windows were left open, Schmitz recalled.

When a staff person left the office to pass out sheets and towels about 6:30 p.m., an intruder pushed in a screen, grabbed the checks, the money and four more booklets of bus passes and left, she said.

For the shelter, which relies entirely on donations for its annual $140,000 budget, the loss of the computer and the checks really hurts, Schmitz said. Donors have been advised to stop payment on their checks, but there is no guarantee that the shelter will be able to replace the money, she added.

The shelter houses 12 families at a time to keep children off the street, she said.

Because of the thefts, for the past four days, clients have been unable to get their laundry done or make telephone calls, Schmitz said.

“If they’re here only three or four days and they never got their chance to get that little bit of help that might have gotten them that job, or off welfare, then we haven’t been able to serve them in that way we were set up to do,” she said. “It’s sort of a blow in terms of the whole feeling of the community.

“How could they do that?” Schmitz asked. “How could you steal from people who already don’t have anything?”