Truck stolen from Yolo Food Bank day before Thanksgiving

A refrigerated Yolo Food Bank delivery truck was stolen outside Costco in Woodland on Wednesday. The vehicle, bought years before through a community fundraising effort that brought in $85,000, was picking up food to deliver to residents in Davis when it was taken.

The volunteer had been inside Costco when he came outside to discover the vehicle missing, said Joy Cohan, the director of philanthropic engagement.

Woodland police responded to the theft and searched the area. The truck was eventually located in the Home Depot parking lot on East Main Street in Woodland by another Yolo Food Bank worker, who was making deliveries.

The truck, named the Heidi Renee after the donors who led the effort to buy it, allowed fresh food to be delivered due to the expensive refrigeration system. However, upon being located, it was discovered that the truck’s refrigeration controller has been ripped out of the front console. A mirror and items within the cab of the truck had also been stolen, amounting to about $15,000 in damage.

Police did not find the suspect on the scene and no more information is yet known about the incident.

While the truck was only missing for about 90 minutes, the Yolo Food Bank completely re-routed their other trucks to cover the deliveries in the morning.

The organization has already received about $5,000 in pledges to cover the repairs following their social media posts about the incident. Cohan said that they may consider a more formalized fundraising effort after the Thanksgiving rush is over.

While the food bank had already delivered over 3,000 Thanksgiving meal kits the week prior, the ordinary Wednesday deliveries were disrupted by the theft and lowered the morale of many within the organization.

“On a thematic level, it was just astounding that it would happen at this time of year in a year that has just seen elevated need all the way along,” Cohan said.

The distribution of food by Yolo Food Bank has increased exponentially throughout the pandemic, while the Thanksgiving meal kit deliveries increased by over 50% from the year before.