Charity’s vans get
low-profile benefactorAn anonymous donor will pay
for repairs to vandalized vehicles
A company that chooses to remain anonymous wants to foot the repair bill for eight Catholic Charities vans that were damaged by vandals.
"It gives me back my faith in the community," said Stella Wong, executive director of Catholic Charities. "With our tight budget, we weren't sure how we were going to pay for it."
The vans, which included five wheelchair-accessible vehicles, were kept under the Keeaumoku Street overpass along the H-1 freeway. Wong said the vehicles were broken into sometime between 5 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday. Damage is estimated at between $4,000 and $5,000.
The president and chief executive officer of the company told the Star-Bulletin yesterday he was in "absolute disgust" when he heard about what the vandals did to the vans.
He said Catholic Charities provides a "wonderful community service" for senior citizens.
"They do fine work. ... They should be supported," he said.
Catholic Charities' Elderly Services program, which has been around for 30 years, provides transportation services for senior citizens to take them shopping, to medical appointments and on excursions.
The program performs about 2,500 trips for an estimated 500 seniors a month, Wong said.
Wong speculated that it may take a week to replace damaged windows on the vans.
Transportation Programs Supervisor Peter Reyes said Catholic Charities plans to use older vans today to drive about 125 seniors to lunch and social activities, medical appointments and to take them shopping. Air-conditioning systems in the older vans do not work, he said, and they are also prone to mechanical problems.
Reyes would like to add a security guard and install more lighting under the overpass where the vans are stored, but budgetary constraints make that difficult. He added that vandalism has been getting worse over the years.
Reyes said he hopes the vandal or vandals realize that they damaged vehicles that may provide services to their grandparents or a friend's relatives.
"They will find out somebody they know or some extended person they know is receiving services from Catholic Charities," he said.
Those who have questions on transportation services can call Catholic Charities at 595-0077.