SPRINGFIELD — Someone stole thousands of dollars in tools and equipment from a local children’s garden.
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News Center 7’s Malik Patterson talks to the head gardener about what happened LIVE on News Center 7 at 6:00.
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Paulette Thomas is the Head Gardener for Kiwanis Children’s Garden at Snyder Park in Springfield.
She said she noticed locks were broken, solar panels were cut, and the thieves didn’t put things back correctly.
“I had my frustrations, I had to control that, but I’m just not happy about it,” Thomas said.
Thomas said she went to the garden’s shed on Friday morning to get ready for the day.
“Get the wheelbarrows out and all that. And then I went to take the bar off, and I noticed the lock wasn’t on it,” Thomas said.
She thought maybe another volunteer forgot, but then she noticed it was broken.
“Our zero-turn, John Deere mower was gone. Our string line trimmer and attachments were gone,” she said.
Along with a wheelbarrow, gas, and oil cans.
“I just noticed today the fertilizer spreaders are gonna keep noticing new stuff that was gone,” Thomas said.
But when she went to turn on the lights, she also noticed the entire system to the solar panels was cut and missing.
“I guess they took the copper wire, but they took the battery out of that and all the control stuff for the solar; they just took it all,” Thomas said.
She said it’ll take thousands of dollars to replace everything.
“The solar panels may be fried too. So $10,000 when you total everything up together,” Thomas said.
Kiwanis is a national organization that helps children in local communities.
The Springfield chapter has been around for 100 years.
“It’s first time they’ve helped me this year, and they liked it so much they want to come back every year,” Thomas said.
Thomas said volunteers will have to bring their own tools and equipment until the organization can replace them.
“Gonna put a claim in for insurance and, but I don’t know if it’ll cover it all,” Thomas said.
Springfield police are investigating this theft and vandalism.
For now, a park ranger will be patrolling more until additional security measures can be installed.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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