DETROIT – Just days before Memorial Day, two Detroit donation bins for veterans were vandalized. It’s not the first time. The director of the organization says this has happened to 30 other bins in recent years.
The bins belong to the Veterans and America First Foundation.
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“We went for servicing the bins, we found the doors were ripped off,” Aiman Kawas, who handles bin placement and servicing, said.
They believe it happened some time between Wednesday night and Friday morning.
They have over 200 bins across southeast Michigan.
“Please stop,” Director Paul Dehem said. “Live and let live, especially for the veterans. People that sacrifice their lives for the country and you are destroying a veteran’s source of money.”
He says these donations are meant for families in need.
They also run this storefront thrift shop in Clinton Township.
“Police came to the site and we filed a police report. I have a stack of police reports in my office,” Kawas said.
Kawas showed Local 4 the long list. They’ve been dealing with this for the last year and a half and they say it’s happened to at least 30 other bins.
They say the items aren’t just being stolen but the equipment is being damaged and boxes are disappearing.
“There were videos from different angles from stores, but I don’t think anybody followed up on it,” Kawas said.
Local 4 went around and asked for that footage.
“Do you guys have security camera footage that was pointed that way?” Local 4 asked the nearby restaurant.
Checkers couldn’t give it to Local 4.
“Do you think it’s the same person?” Local 4 asked Kawas.
“I believe it is,” Kawas said.
Local 4 asked Dehem what he thinks of this happening right before Memorial Day.
“It’s the most disheartening part about it because all the things that we do are based on helping veterans and just helping normal Americans. So, it’s just sad,” he said.
Local 4also reached out to Detroit police to ask if they have anyone in custody but has not heard back.