Vision House food bank robbed, restocked by donors within a week

Published 3:19 pm Monday, December 22, 2014

A break-in at their food bank on Dec. 11 left the folks at Vision House wondering how they were going to make ends meet for their clients during the holidays.

But then, when word began to spread of the crime and the need, the donations began to flow from everywhere and all of sudden the talk began to change into that most elusive of all holiday plot twists: the Christmas Miracle.

“Yes, we’ve been tossing that word around,” said Vision House Development Manager Venetia Vango last week.

Vision House is a nonprofit organization that provides transitional housing to homeless women and families. Most stay at the facility and supplement their incomes through a small food and clothing bank, known as the “resident store,” located on the property. Presently, 23 families live at the Renton facility.

On the morning of Dec. 11, Vango and her staff arrived to find that someone had stripped the shelves almost entirely clean.

“What was left was just a few cans of vegetables,” Vango said.

There were no signs of a break-in, however, and nothing was broken so Vango is not sure how the burglars got in, but she said she and her staff have decided not to press charges because someone robbing a food bank is obviously someone in need.

But that didn’t change the fact that as the holidays approached, their cupboards were now bare.

So the staff sent out an email to her staff and donors to let them know what had happened and the response was swift.

“Honestly, this is one of those years where financial donations just haven’t kept up with the needs of homeless families. This makes it difficult for us. We have 575 people on our waiting list, 373 of whom are children,” it read in part.

“It just started the ball rolling,” she said of the email. “Pretty soon we had calls and emails coming in.”

Within a week of the break-in at their facility, Vango said stocks had been replenished due to a “significant response” from individual and corporate donors alike, including QFC and Fred Meyer, both of which donated truckloads of supplies, and both did so almost immediately.

“We were truly astounded,” Vango said. “It was pretty amazing.”

On Friday, the Soroptimist International Seattle South Club donated $10,000 from funds raised at their annual “Christmas in October” lunch and fashion show. The group had received the email and wanted to respond.

Now, Vision House’s shelves are full again (and a new security system has been installed) and it looks like there will be a merry Christmas at Vision House indeed.

“A bad thing happened, but God meant it for good,” Vango said.