CINCINNATI — An estimated $100,000 worth of damage and stolen goods. That is the reality a Lower Price Hill church is facing after its building was broken into last Thursday.
Shelves and pantries were completely ransacked, doors were broken, and valuables were stolen.
“I was just sad because the people who have been at this church for years and years were just sitting here devastated,” said Annie Burton, the pastor of State Avenue United Methodist Church.
WATCH: See the damage the church is left with after a break-in, and the necessities they lost
Burton says several of the congregation’s members discovered what had happened when they arrived at the church to prepare for their Thursday night community dinner.
“They came in the side door, and had trouble getting in, and when they got in there was kind of a shovel in the way, kind of holding the door closed,” said Burton.
She said one of the first things the group noticed on Thursday was that their food pantry had been completely ransacked. The doorframe was completely broken off.
“This wall was mostly diapers, and most of our diapers were taken, and so that’s a pretty significant loss for us,” Burton said as she walked WCPO 9 through the pantry. “This whole table was like feminine hygiene products; it’s just mostly empty boxes now.”
Burton added that food and cleaning supplies they give out were also taken, affecting not only the church, but also those they serve.
“While we have a really small food pantry, we’re able to cover those gaps for people in this neighborhood,” said Burton. “We serve the community, so when they are stealing from the church, they’re stealing from the community.”
While the food pantry was a hard blow, Burton says the worst damage was to their former daycare. She said the damage was so severe that it’s unsafe to go inside, and it is now completely boarded up.
“The most significant damage is in the daycare; they took the baseboard heaters off of the wall—all of the walls—and we believe they took the pipes. And then the bathrooms, they took the fixtures out of the wall, and they took the pipes from that as well,” said Burton.
Church members and volunteers have already begun cleaning up the damage and restocking the pantry, but Burton says they will need help. The church has an Amazon wishlist to restock the items stolen from its pantry.
