Community steps up after thousands of dollars of equipment stolen from Capital Roots
TROY, NY (WRGB) — The community is stepping up to help Capital Roots after roughly $2000 worth of equipment used for their urban farm in Troy was stolen over the weekend.
The thief broke into the organization's farm tool shed and took a newly donated lawn mower that was just given to Capital Roots last week.
Amy Klein, Chief Executive Officer at Capital Roots, said that the mower hadn't even been used yet.
CBS6 was there when the Center For Internet Security (CIS) presented the new lawn mower to Capital Roots just last week.
Several other tools were also taken.
“It’s kind of a gut punch to our staff and to our volunteers who work so hard to really support the community,” said Klein.
But following the theft, she says the community came out and showed their support, helping Capital Roots replace the stolen items.
MORE: Plant sale supports programs by Capital Roots
Klein says that CIS has donated another new lawn mower to replace the stolen one.
She says she’s grateful for their support because the number of people using the services Capital Roots provides has skyrocketed since the pandemic with it continuing to rise amid inflation and high gas prices.
“What kind of work we do in our community is to provide people the ability to purchase produce at a low cost about half the cost of what they would buy at a supermarket,” said Klein.
Capital Roots works to improve access to healthy, affordable food in urban areas in the Capital Region.
“From our standpoint this is what true food security is really all about is giving people the choice to access top quality foods at low cost,” said Klein.
She says the thief didn’t just steal from Capital Roots, the thief stole from the community.
The services Capital Roots offers are so vital that Congressman Paul Tonko secured $750,000 in federal funds to help the organization build its Urban Growth Center.
