Donation boxes at the Summerland Ornamental Gardens have been removed after thieves broken into the boxes twice and stole money.
On Aug. 2, the locks were cut on the three flowerpot-like boxes.
The Friends of the Gardens, a not-for-profit registered charity, replaced the locks with stronger ones, but despite these measures, the thieves struck again.
This time, the hasp was sawed off one container and the lid was pried off another.
“Somebody was really brazen,” said Bonnie Fulton, chair of the society.
She added that the donation boxes are emptied daily and the thief or thieves likely took no more than $100.
The gardens are part of the property of the Summerland Research and Development Centre.
“Until we find a solution, we are without hundreds of dollars of regular summer income” Fulton said.
The society receives in-kind support from Agriculture Agri-food Canada, operator of the Research Centre, but the money for gardeners’ wages and maintenance of the six-hectare site is raised from the spring plant sale, memberships and donations.
Visitors to the gardens are encouraged to donate online, through the society’s website at www.summerlandgardens.org.
Tax receipts are issued for donations of $25 or more.
Members of the gardens society are also urging Summerlanders to watch their own homes and properties as thieves are in the area.
