Stolen Sultan Food Bank delivery truck recovered; need for food donations greater than ever
SULTAN, Wash. -- Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies have a food bank’s truck that had been stolen weeks ago.
The Sultan Food Bank says they use the truck to deliver food to hundreds of families, but now volunteers may not be able to use it at all.
Officials said they don’t yet know if the truck is road-worthy after the box truck was found abandoned on a logging road.
The agency said it doesn’t have the money to pay for a mechanic, and because the truck had being missing for so long the food bank might not have enough food for families who need it most.
“It looks like it went through a field of daisies,” said food bank director Calie Vaughn. “I really thought it would be completely totaled.”
Vaughn said until the food bank can come up with the cash for a mechanic to assess the damage, volunteers will not be able to drive it to pick up donations.
“It was high centered up on some logs that had to be chain sawed out and then pulled out by a tow truck,” she said. “I have no idea what the underside looks like.”
The food bank serves up to 1,000 people in the Sky Valley every month. But since the truck had been missing, volunteers haven’t been able to pick up food and restock the shelves.
Vaughn said come Friday, hundreds of clients may not be able to get what they need for their families. She said the food bank needs donations now more than ever.
Police have not made any arrests in the case, but Vaughn said right now it is more important to get the food bank filled with donations.
She said she hopes the thief has a change of heart and decides to help out instead.
“We’ve got some volunteer opportunities if you want to come right your wrong,” she said. “You don’t even have to tell us you took it, we need help.”
There is some good news in all of this --a local company out of Woodinville heard about the truck theft and decided to help. Johansen Mechanical told Q13 News that it plans to donate a 2008 cargo van to the food bank. It could be delivered to the Sultan Food Bank by the weekend.