SA Inner-City Sports Program Hit By Thieves (San Antonio, Anton: 2014, insurance)

[majormadmax]

While I detest the use of the word "ghetto" to describe this city, it is incidents such as this which sometimes justify it...

Inner-City Sports Program Hit By Thieves

Founder Of Program Refuses To Give Up Fight To Help At-Risk Kids

SAN ANTONIO -- An inner-city sports program that serves low-income and at-risk kids on the Southeast side was broken into Thursday night, two days after they hosted a National Night Out Against Crime event at their gym.

"Our front door's been broken into, you know the office broken into and laptops stolen, gaming systems, P.A. system and unfortunately a lot of money," said Ron Hays, the founder of Brooks Inner City Sports.

Hays started the program to help keep at risk kids off the streets and out of trouble. Sadly he believes the thief was likely part of the program...They knew exactly where we hide our Xbox and PlayStation game systems and they went straight to it so we're just assuming that it's someone that was in our program," Hays said.

The article goes on to say that this program receives some funds from the city but for the most part it is run on a shoe string budget with money raised by program fees and donations.

The $300 in cash that was taken was set aside for this month's water and electric bills.

It is estimated that this sports program serves about a thousand local kids. This past summer, it also participated in a summer feeding program for low-income kids.

Moderator cut: see comment box

Cheers! M2

[sleeptech210]

As being one that invest and works with inner city kids this burns me up! It's really sad but it comes with the territory. I wish he would've invested in insurance, only about 50.00 a month. Let's hope the community comes together to help rebuild. In the end it's the kids that get hurt. Ghetto or not.

[Backliteyes]

Originally Posted by sleeptech210

I wish he would've invested in insurance, only about 50.00 a month.

If you run that kind of program and people know that you're hiding gaming systems and money inside the place, you have to plan on being robbed and have insurance. Hopefully that lesson was learned and they'll have it for next time. Because if they replace the valuables that were stolen there will be a next time.

[TexasRedneck]

I'm sorry....but THIS is the kinda stuff that flat makes me face-plant. I mean....really? No insurance, and cash left on the premises overnight?

<sigh>

Having said that....thanks for the heads up. No way to donate online direct, but I'll call 'em Monday and see what I can do.

[skeet09]

Not the greatest thing to do is to lay cash around to pay utilities. That money should have been deposited at the bank immediately or kept in a safe on premises that only staff know about and only accessed when the youth aren't around. Safe combination changed when a staff person leaves, etc. My accounting brain is coming up here, lol. Maybe they need some accounting assistance?
It's just a darn shame that someone would do something like this to a program. Karma is a wonderful thing.

[majormadmax]

First, it doesn't state the money was "laying around" so please don't be quick to judge that it wasn't properly secured.

Secondly, this facility most likely is operating on a shoestring budget. I am sure they try to put every dime they get into the program they are running for the kids. At least that seems to be the case with most charities like this.

And it is kinda hard to "hide" the fact that the gaming systems are there when they are used daily by the kids. I am sure they did their best to lock them up, but as we all know a dedicated thief will be able to defeat most attempts to secure an item. There is no such thing as "theft-proof," only varying degrees of security that make something harder to steal.

Regardless, the point remains that a very worthwhile charity needs help; and hopefully some of us on here can help. I plan to do so next week, and even if someone can only make a small contribution, if enough people do so it will make a difference. For the price of a Starbucks, we can be help these kids work towards a better life which would benefit all involved.

Cheers! M2

[rd2007]

You really shouldn't have to "plan for theft". That only occurs in ghetto places, which is obviously applicable here, but not all over the country. In most places I've lived, people actually have respect for other people's property and 90% of the population doesn't feel entitled to whatever they want just because otherwise life isn't fair.

Yet another lesson for people considering a move to this ghetto..

[skeet09]

Originally Posted by majormadmax

First, it doesn't state the money was "laying around" so please don't be quick to judge that it wasn't properly secured.

Secondly, this facility most likely is operating on a shoestring budget. I am sure they try to put every dime they get into the program they are running for the kids. At least that seems to be the case with most charities like this.

I worked at a non profit that had a shoestring budget and the very first thing we did was buy a fireproof safe and secure checks and other valuables and we worked near the homeless downtown. We had to keep in mind to never access the safe when clients were around. If this was the work of one of the clients who has used the program, they would not know where the safe was. Safes are welded to the floor for more security. In one non profit, we didn't have enough money so we called around to welders to donate their services and create a way to weld the safe to the floor.
We would have loved to have used that money for program use but its better to take the proper precautions. The money goes straight to the bank to be deposited or locked up in a safe until staff can reach a bank. So I consider the cash to be laying around because utilities such as water and electric bills need to be paid using organizational checks. There are so many resources for small non profits to tap into to secure their limited resources. I am much more critical of a non profits organizational controls because I have spent a decade working in various organizations.

[GlorifiedMalcontent]

Originally Posted by rd2007

You really shouldn't have to "plan for theft". That only occurs in ghetto places, which is obviously applicable here, but not all over the country. In most places I've lived, people actually have respect for other people's property and 90% of the population doesn't feel entitled to whatever they want just because otherwise life isn't fair.

Yet another lesson for people considering a move to this ghetto..

because rich people's houses in nice neighborhoods never get broken into?

planning for theft doesn't mean "i know i'll get broken into, better prepare". it means being prepared and taking precautions for unforeseeable events (like theft or fire, etc), like most businesses and individuals do, via security measures and insurance. just because someone lives in a "good neighborhood" doesn't mean they shouldn't lock their doors.


to the topic on hand, i hope they can get back on their feet and hopefully are able to take the extra steps to insure the property. those extra little things, though they do pull from an already tight budget, will obviously go a long way in making sure a program like this will stay operational in the event of something unfortunate happening.

[rd2007]

Try reading my post again, please. I wasn't saying you don't have to take measures here, because you obviously do. Doesn't matter what neighborhood you're in, either, because this entire city is one big ghetto full of undereducated, irresponsible, entitled POSs.. My point was that this is not the case in the entire country.
People here must not get out very often or something.. We were doing some early morning window shopping in Jackson Hole a few years ago when one of the store owners came up to his shop to apologize for being late to open and he just opened the door for us, without a key.. The door had been open all night and it seemed like that was normal for him; I also did not see him disarm a security system or anything else that would indicate the place was "protected". Granted Jackson Hole is a little smaller than SA, but it is still an example of how things can be and you don't have to accept the miserable failure that SA currently is. In some communities, people actually watch out for one another and do not tolerate the status quo you see here every day.
But I'm sure most will just dismiss me and tell me to move if I don't like it. Those same people are the ones that seem to simply accept and even encourage failure..