The Rutland County Parent-Child Center’s stockings won’t be quite so empty after all.
Executive Director Mary Feldman said Wednesday that the community response to a burglary at the organization’s office has been swift and heartwarming.
“Honestly, I’m overwhelmed by the community support,” she said. “I’m humbled by how many people have reached out in the last 24-48 hours.”
At least two yet-unidentified people broke into the center over the weekend, stealing gift cards the organization gives out to families during the holiday’s, the organization’s corporate credit card and one of the vehicles it uses for transporting clients and making deliveries. Feldman said the break-in also did significant damage and left the group needing a new security system.
Police Chief Brian Kilcullen said Wednesday he was unable to offer any updates on the investigation.
In the meantime, Feldman said donations have piled up, already putting the organization at least halfway toward covering the losses.
“Lots of local agencies ... came through,” she said. “It’s large organizations that have a lot of resources but also smaller stores and community agencies.
Feldman said the single largest donation was $5,000 from Heritage Family Credit Union.
“After reading the article, I felt like it was something we had to do because there were so many families that were going to need help,” Heritage CEO Matthew Levandowski said.
Levandowski said HFCU has a foundation — Heritage Family Care For You — established for charitable giving that does a number of major donations during the holidays and that the contribution to the Parent-Child Center was on top of its normal activity.
“It was nice going down, seeing Mary and the staff, chatting with them,” he said. “They’re really passionate.”
Feldman said a Facebook post the organization made about the incident was shared 450 times and garnered 20,000 views.
“The number of people interested in the work we’re doing shows how connected people are to the Parent-Child Center,” she said. “I don’t think people realize how connected they are to each other.”
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