THE DUBLIN SIMON Community has had its van stolen following a charity fun run at the weekend.
On Saturday, the homeless service held its 30th annual fun run in the Phoenix Park and after the event organisers parked their branded van in their storage facility in Chapelizod.
On Monday, when their van driver returned to the facility to begin work delivering donated clothes to different shelters, they found that it had been taken.
Simon Community spokesperson Annmarie Brennan said that the van is clearly marked on both sides with the logo of the Dublin Simon Community and that it was full of branded equipmemt from the weekend’s fun run.
Brennan said that the van is the only one the organisation has and that they are especially concerned given that at this time of year they get additional donations of clothes. With with no van to move them around however it will now be more difficult to distribute the clothes to the homeless people they help.
Brennan says that Dublin Simon are additionally concerned that the contents of the van will be used by the thieves to act as representatives of the organisation and take money from the public:
We are worried that with the amount of Simon community hi-vis jackets and other Simon Community branded buckets ect., people will use it to to falsely represent the organisation.
Brennan says that they contacted the gardaí yesterday and hope the van will be found because it is “an expensive thing to replace” and purchasing a new van will be difficult given tight budgets.
She adds that although the van is 18-years-old and is far more valuable to them than any thief who may have taken it.
The van has a registration number of 95 -D-18377 and anybody who may have seen it is asked to contact the gardai or the Dublin Simon Community.
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