AUBURN, Maine — Here it is only August and the Grinch has already made an appearance in the Twin Cities.
A man posing as a United Way worker this week made off with a collection of school supplies earmarked for needy families.
It happened on Monday. As part of a yearly campaign, the United Way had been collecting backpacks with the help of a variety of sources, including L.L. Bean, the Auburn-Lewiston Rotary and the Walmart distribution center.
By the start of the week, 550 backpacks had been collected and were just waiting for loot — pencils, notebooks, crayons, etc. — to fill them.
“For some families, these are desperate times,” Joleen Bedard, executive director at the United Way, said. “The kids really need to have these tools. Kids want to have nice backpacks because all their friends do.”
At Big Lots in Auburn, customers have been given the opportunity to purchase school supplies and donate them to the cause. Several did. On Friday, those supplies were to be stuffed into the backpacks and distributed to families around Androscoggin County.
Enter Scrooge. On Monday, the unidentified man went to Big Lots and told workers there he was a volunteer with the United Way.
“He went over in a black SUV and picked up everything,” Bedard said.
All of the donated items were taken. It was not known exactly how much was stolen, but it was believed to be enough to fill a good number of the backpacks. Instead, the United Way is scrambling, hoping to come up with enough supplies to fill the bags on Friday.
According to Bedard, there will be no halt in the plan in spite of the setback.
“It’s going to be a success either way,” she said. “Any support is certainly appreciated.”
Anyone who wants to donate supplies for the backpacks can deliver them to the United Way offices at 66 Ash St. in Lewiston, across from the Post Office.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the thief remained at large.
Bedard said no one blames the people of Big Lots for having fallen victim to an impostor.
“They have been huge supporters and partners,” Bedard said of the store. “They have done a tremendous job.”
This is really a low thing to do. I hope whoever did this will be writing apology letters to kids from jail with crayons.
Just when you thought you heard the lowest thing someone could do, someone sets the bar even lower. Is there a competition for who can claim the title of lowest of the low?
I can think of a few…most having to do with politics.
Probably some dirt bag running for public office. The campaign contributions were not flowing in fast enough, so…
What a scum. We can only hope Karma will make a quick appearance.
Sounds like a publicity stunt to get more donations…
What would someone do with a bunch of school supplies? Doesn’t really make sense, I mean how many boxes of crayons does one man need?
He will probably go around to other schools and donate the items and make it look like he is some nice guy helping the community. So teachers/schools pay attention if someone comes in trying to donate items, see if you can see what he drives etc.
this is almost as low as the fellow who posed as a charity worker and stole toys meant for kids a couple of years back.
disgusting.
Predator…Watch for the panel van peddling Hello Kitty backpacks and DC Comics pencil sets (school supplies are the new ice cream/ candy!).
I just read on another newspaper site that the missing supplies are not missing after all. Apparently, there was a United Way volunteer from York that picked up the wrong items from Big Lots, and arrangements are being made to get the school supplies back where they belong. So for all of us who condemned this person over what turns out to be a misunderstanding, oops. I should not have rushed to judgement until more information was available.
pos enuff said