Hampstead Women’s Club Thrift Shop ‘hurt’ by theft

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A thrift shop that gives back to the community is now being taken from. The Hampstead Women’s Club’s mission strives to serve its community, but now they have found a thief.

“If someone was in need and they came to us and said this is what I need, this is my situation we would be happy to give to them. But to steal from us really hurts us because we do work hard,” Hampstead Women’s Club President Patricia Truscello said.

Truscello said she noticed something was wrong when their drop off area was empty.

“We started putting two and two together because Sunday is a very big drop off day for people and we were seeing on Monday morning that there was nothing out there and we said oh something is not right here,” Truscello said. “And sure enough when we got the security cameras we can see this person coming and just loading their vehicle.”

They recently installed security cameras just because of it.

“We would appreciate them stopping and if they do have a need for something and wanted to come to us we would be happy to help them, but don’t hurt us by stealing from us,” Truscello said.

Truscello said they have reached out to the police, but would need the license plate number to do anything about it. She said they do not want to prosecute anyone. They just want who ever is doing it to stop.

“If you would just please think about what you’re doing before you do it,” Hampstead Women’s Club Thrift Store Manager Rose Gates said.

Truscello said it is a white van that continues to take from their drop off donation area.