Updated 11/22/2011 09:01 PM
Meals on Wheels van stolen
Hundreds of meals lost their wheels Tuesday when Senior Services of Albany reported one of its delivery vans, stolen. Our Erin Vannella reports.
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ALBANY, N.Y. -- "The volunteers came in to go out on the road and the car was gone," said Senior Services of Albany Executive Director Jane Schramm.
Stolen. One Meals on Wheels van from Senior Services of Albany's delivery fleet.
"People are astounded," said Schramm. "People are just in disbelief that people would steal something that goes to helping other people."
Police say the 1997 Plymouth Voyager went missing around 7:30 Tuesday morning. Inside, $500 worth of equipment, but no meals and no keys either.
"That's not saying someone along the line couldn't have gotten a hold of one of the copies and made another copy or they started it in some other fashion or that one was misplaced," said Albany Public Safety Spokesperson James Miller. "We're just going on what other people are saying."
Senior services of Albany delivers 1,000 meals a day and so while every vehicle is critical, organizers say, now couldn't be a worse time to lose one.
"I mean, not only are there a lot of people we need to be serving in the next couple days," said Schram, "but we have special Thanksgiving meals and because it was a minivan, we were able to transport a lot of food in it and without it, it's really tough."
But while police work to find the dark green van, apparently without the help of surveillance video, the non-profit keeps cookin'. Even with four fewer wheels, the meals will keep on rollin'.
"So no matter what, we're going to get them to them," said Schramm, "But we need help. We need help."
Police say there are surveillance cameras on the Senior Services building and on neighboring Green Street, but they don't point to that lot. The license plate number on the missing dark green van is DHE5188.
If you have any information or want to lend a hand with meals, call (518) 465-3322 or visit www.seniorservicesofalbany.com.