Thieves steal and strip Mid-Columbia Meals on Wheels van in Richland — again

Mid-Columbia Meals on Wheels got a rude surprise this week when they arrived to find one of the nonprofit’s food delivery vans had been stolen — again.

Thieves had sliced a security chain and removed the steering wheel lock before taking it about 4 a.m. Monday from the organization’s Richland location on Fowler Street.

“It’s sure a crummy feeling for our team when they arrive early in the morning to find we’ve once again been vandalized,” Mid-Columbia Meals on Wheels said in a Facebook post.

This is not the first time the van, which is used to make deliveries to hundreds of home-bound seniors, has disappeared.

In 2019, the Ford Econoline was taken from the same location.

It turned up in Seattle nearly two weeks later after being used to transport marijuana, earning it the name “Mary Jane.”

This time, Mid-Columbia Meals on Wheels was luckier, and got a tip within hours of the theft but it’s not clear if its insurance will cover the thousands of dollars in lost equipment and damage.

The van was found abandoned in a rural area west of Pasco, near Burbank. The oven and cabinets were stripped out and the windows were painted over. It also had quite a bit of body damage.

And the vandals apparently tried to torch it by lighting some papers inside on fire, but it didn’t spread.

The cabinets also were found a short time later abandoned at the Columbia Point Golf Course.

“We are grateful we found her and remain hopeful we will eventually be able to get her back on the road, but we are not out of the woods yet,” the organization’s Facebook post said.

The van is the oldest of the five used by Mid-Columbia Meals on Wheels, said Grant Baynes, the executive director of Senior Life Resources.

Mid-Columbia Meals on Wheels produces about 600 meals a day, and about two-thirds go to seniors at home.

The vans take the hot and cold meals from their kitchen sites to meal centers and locations where volunteers pick them up to distribute to individuals.

Despite being down one van, Baynes said they have been able to make their deliveries, but have not learned whether the insurance will cover the damage or if the van is a total loss.

They also will need to come up with a new warming oven, which can cost about $5,000.

“It doesn’t have much value in it being so old, but it has enormous value to us being a working vehicle,” he said.

Anyone interested in donating toward the replacements can go to the Senior Life Resources page.