The garden at Hillview United Methodist Church was raided the morning of Wednesday, August 21, while church employees worked inside. They stole dozens of bags of vegetables, which church staff suspect they plan to resell, and damaged many plants.
Brenda Sene, the senior pastor at Hillview United Methodist, says despite the incident, the refugee community has been flooded with donations and support.
“Our gardeners, I was talking to one just a little bit ago, and he had tears in his eyes when I was telling him about all of the love for the gardeners that’s being expressed right now and he was overwhelmed with the goodness," says Sene.
The refugee community has been raising food in the garden for 13 years to help feed their families, neighbors and friends.
The garden was raided again on Sunday evening by a different group. Sene says the church is planning to build a fence to prevent further thefts.
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