Thieves break into Hospice shop |
| Tuesday, 25 November 2008 |
 Thieves made away with a large haul last week after breaking into one of the Peace Hospice’s charity shops. Good quality jewelry, clothing, and money from the Hospice’s donation box totaling over £2k in value was taken from the Hospice’s Watford shop in Lower High Street.
Shop Manager, Julie Bines said ‘My initial reaction was total disbelief when we had discovered that someone had broken into a charity shop. The thieves trashed the place and took a lot of our high quality items, many of which were donated by grieving relatives who wanted to give something back to the community.
We try our utmost to raise as much money as possible for the Hospice and it’s really disappointing when something like this happens. The thieves even took our donation box.
Most of the people that work at our shop are volunteers who work out of the kindness of their hearts. Everyone connected with the shop has taken this really badly.’
The Hospice’s retail directors, Steve Rose said ‘As a result of the break-in, we have had to spend more money on upgrading our security in the shop. It also comes at a time when our shops are facing tough conditions with the effects of the credit crunch. We have already seen a drop in donated goods, which is a very worrying sign for us. The Hospice needs to raise £3.5 million this year to run and develop its services and the Hospice shops provide a large percentage of the amount needing to be raised’.
The Peace Hospice has shops located in Bushey, Chorleywood, Garston, Radlett, Tudor, Watford and Oxhey.
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