Diggers Rest Lions Club members are reeling after thieves stole a trailer due to be raffled for charity.
On Friday, September 18, club secretary Bob Cassar parked the new trailer, packed full of items, at club headquarters.
The following Friday, the trailer and goods, valued at $1500, were gone.
Mr Cassar said it was the first time in eight years the club had been broken into.
“Our big concern is that now they’ve been able to break into the shed, there’s nothing to stop them again,” Mr Cassar said.
“We’re worried that they will strike again.”
He said the thieves “went to a lot of trouble” to steal the trailer.
The chain and lock had been reconnected to look as though nothing had been broken.
“Any time you passed the area, you wouldn’t have noticed it had been broken into,” he said.
Every year, the club sells raffle tickets to raise money for a community organisation.
This year, the money raised was to be donated to CareWorks, Sunbury, to support their Christmas hamper drive.
CareWorks provides emergency relief to people in crisis.
“The club is devastated and extremely disappointed that the trailer was stolen,” Mr Cassar said.
“I wish the offenders had a conscience about what they were doing. In my opinion, a theft like this … isn’t a school boy theft. This was planned,” he said.
“I’d say it was somebody who noticed us putting the trailer into the shed on the Friday.”
Mr Cassar said not only had the club lost the value of the trailer and the items in it, they had lost about $4000 in fundraising money.
The trailer is dark grey, with white- rimmed wheels and a silver cage.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Melton police on 9747 7999.
