Local community rallies after a truck is stolen from Foodbank SA’s warehouse

“The one positive that’s come out of this whole situation is the support we’ve had from the community as well as the corporate sector”

Foodbank South Australia was left devastated when a large truck used to deliver fresh fruit and veggies to the local community was stolen from its warehouse in the early hours of Tuesday morning. 

Greg Pattinson, CEO of Foodbank South Australia, told Pro Bono News that while the truck has since been discovered, abandoned less than 2km from the warehouse, the charity is still dealing with the impact of the theft. 

“It’s one of only two large Foodbank SA trucks that go out and collect up to six tonnes of fruit and veg,” Pattinson said. “Having only one truck left us with not enough food to send out to people, and disrupted the flow of all our products.” 

Pattinson said that the team had been left devastated that someone would steal from them. 

“Foodbank is pretty well known as a charity that tries to help people,” he said. 

“We’re still trying to work out why someone would do this. Unless they thought the [empty] truck was full of food.” 

The silver lining, however, has been the way the local community rallied around the charity. 

“The one positive that’s come out of this whole situation is the support we’ve had from the community as well as the corporate sector,” Pattinson told Pro Bono News. 

“We’ve had one gentleman offer to go and pick up the abandoned truck and fix it for free and we’ve had people offer to loan us trucks until the one we had stolen is back on the road. Plus, the Royal Automobile Association has offered to put security lighting in our front car park.”