A Richmond thrift store that donates its proceeds to help sick animals was robbed of all its cash, leaving vulnerable employees and critters in a risky situation.
Karen Kamachi, store manager for the RAPS Granville Avenue location, says her assistant manager called her in a panic when she came into work on February 9.
“The door was wide open. At that point she called me panicking, saying, ‘Karen, you have to run over here. We’ve been robbed,’” she said.
She detoured her route and showed up five minutes later to a sad scene — items in disarray, all the lights on, and the safe gone.
The safe was totally cemented into the wall and covered by a cabinet, which was fastened to the ground. It happened in the middle of the night, around 3 am.
“The ceiling had been punched out. There was crap everywhere. You could tell that somebody had been rooting around in places. Our shelving has been affected,” she said. “The windows have been smashed out … and the tablet was gone that we use for transactions.”
We want to make the RAPS Animal Hospital the ONLY 24/7 NOT-FOR-PROFIT VETERINARY FACILITY available in Metro Vancouver for your emergency needs. First, we need your help. https://t.co/FbfFhnReAC pic.twitter.com/VuwpBCpzCQ
— RAPS (@RAPSociety) July 16, 2019
With the money gone, RAPS can’t donate to help sick animals recover as they usually would. It was meant to go to a cat sanctuary that would cover the cost of surgeries and other procedures for unwell felines.
Kamachi has been a manager there for four years and a volunteer for over a decade. She says losing the donations has left staff feeling hopeless and anxious.
“We also help folks in need, and we can’t provide missionary care for low income,” she said.
“I need to take care of our cat sanctuary and offer veterinary care for those in need, and we can do none of that because some jackass decided to steal from us and damage us.”
To make matters worse, most of the employees who work there are seniors, says Kamachi. That means they’re less able-bodied and less likely to be able to fight off an intruder.
- You might also like:
- Suspects brandish knife and box cutter in series of violent downtown thefts
- Store employee doused with bear mace in alleged downtown New West robbery
- VPD says it's all Gucci after thwarting break-in at luxury shop
- Senior stabbed in the face during violent Vancouver stranger attack
The average age of her volunteers is 70, since they’re the folks who are available during the day to work and volunteer. Some are students who come in after school, but the “vast majority” of their daytime team consists of seniors, Kamachi says.
“Seniors do it because they’re retired. They want something to do with their time and they still want to be a contributing member of society,” she says.
“We do have a couple of staff members who are able-bodied because we do donate furniture and things but yeah, as far as officers are concerned, most of them are senior citizens.”
Many of the people working at the shop are scared and defeated, feeling like they can’t help the animals they love or feel safe at work anymore, as a result.
Personally, Kamachi says she’s still “very alarmed” by the break-in.
“We’ve had little things happen over the years, but this was violent. Somebody really went out and hurt us. This was not, you know, taking five bucks or something like that,” she said.
“It makes me scared for the safety of my staff because we no longer feel secure.”
The next steps are reassuring staff and volunteers that they’re safe and restoring the shop to its regular condition. They’ll be repairing windows and doors and restocking while hoping for an influx of donations.
RAPS is a charity, so people can donate online or drop off used items at the thrift. They can also volunteer if they want to help out.
Meantime, staff and volunteers are struggling to find the motivation to go to work as they report feeling “vulnerable and fearful.” Kamachi sees the team there as a family, and the shop as her second home.
“It gets me emotional,” she says, choking up. “It’s hard to work so hard thinking the reason you’re there is in the service of animals, and somebody keeps stealing your money.”
“A lot of animals are not getting what they need because of what this guy did, and a whole pile of people who are working for very little are in a very risky place.”
Originally from Alberta, healing from an injury and lacking confidence, Finneas takes over empty cages or a cat-trees and flirts like crazy – purring, rubbing, rolling over – giving all the signs of a cat who really needs human contact. https://t.co/H03AtgUS2s pic.twitter.com/JeYFYpPoQJ
— RAPS (@RAPSociety) February 3, 2022
She spoke to police about installing a security system, but was told authorities likely wouldn’t have attended a 3 am break-in with no people inside. Unfortunately, RAPS can’t afford it right now either.
“Every time I get security or anything it takes away from my bottom line of feeding animals and helping with surgeries at the vet hospital … so the police don’t recommend it because they’re not coming if the bell goes off, and monetarily I couldn’t afford it right now.”
Donations to RAPS can be made online or in-person at the store on Granville Street.
Follow Channels and Categories