Oakland Boys & Girls Club robbed – NBC Bay Area

An organization built to help others needs help of its own.

The Boys & Girls Club in Oakland was robbed last week, and the thieves took tens of thousands of dollars worth of items used for after-school education.

“They came here, you’ve got to have some heavy equipment to not ecarualize that,” said Darnell McCulloch. “This is the top, so you have to take all of that out, then you have to lift it up.”

He grew up at the Boys & Girls Club on International Avenue and is now employed.

He said it’s the first time the neighborhood safe has had a major break-in.

“It means everything,” McCulloch said. “He saved all our lives, he saved my life. If it wasn’t for this club, I wouldn’t be here and thousands of kids won’t be here. This is like their safe haven, their second home.”

According to McCulloch, the thief or thieves cut the steel gate to enter the building the night before Halloween.

The thieves went from room to room stealing all the electronics in sight.

They then used a construction cart to load dozens of televisions, iPads, computers, gaming equipment and even hundreds of dollars worth of candy.

The club is currently in the middle of a building project and it is said that almost everything they stole was acquired in the last year.

“It’s like two steps forward, four steps back. Every time we try to upgrade our kids something seems to happen. It’s very disappointing,” McCulloch said. “A lot of work has gone into our club so that children have a safe place to play.”

The Boys and Girls Club relied on these items to provide after-school programming including math, personal finance and reading for 40 to 60 children.

For the staff and the children they serve, the breach runs deeper than what was taken. It’s also about the mental scar it leaves behind.

“The ones that took it, they took our hearts,” said Tamikia McCoy, the club’s director of education. “They stole the hearts of the children and now we have to explain to them why they can’t be at home and relax. Now everyone is on their heads.”

While police investigate, the community has raised more than $10,000 to help replace what was taken and install new safety improvements to the building.

Every dollar represents hope for a stronger and safer future for the community and community organization I love.

“Everybody gathers. I think Oakland is reborn in a sense and it’s going to take rebirth, development, it’s going to take one day, one moment and one second at a time,” McCoy said.