Shirley Sparks, co-founder of Tauranga's Te Puna Quarry Park, has been left devastated by the theft of tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment.
"I just wanted to cry."
That was the reaction of 88-year-old Shirley Sparks, co-founder of Tauranga's Te Puna Quarry Park, when she found out tens of thousands of dollars' worth of equipment had been stolen from the park at the weekend.
"I just absolutely tightened up and filled up. Itwas just awful."
The break-in happened sometime between Saturday lunchtime and Monday morning.
The community volunteers who manage and develop the park are still counting the cost, but it is estimated $30,000-$40,000 worth of equipment has been taken from the garage and storage shed.
Thieves stole a white Suzuki mini truck, a ride-on Masport mower, three chainsaws, three weed eaters, a generator, a skill saw, an electric drill, a hedge trimmer, an arc welder, a wood chipper, a concrete mixer and many other tools and equipment.
The keys to a tractor were also taken. Even the first aid kit is gone.
"If the place is to continue, we'll have to replace it all," Sparks told the Bay of Plenty Times yesterday.
"But we'll have to look very hard at security because the place is open, it's isolated. They would have had all the opportunity in the world."
As a list of stolen items was read out by a volunteer yesterday afternoon, Sparks suddenly stopped him.
"Have we lost our trailer? Our little red one?"
She sighed deeply.
"That was one of the first things that was given to us."
Sparks expected many residents would be upset by the theft and possibly worried as well.
"So much has been done by so few willing workers and there's just no regard for what other people do for the country, really, because we have visitors from all over the world, let alone Tauranga and New Zealand."
Shirley Sparks (left) and Jo Dawkins, co-founders of Tauranga's Te Puna Quarry Park, have been left devastated by the theft of tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment. Photo / George Novak
Te Puna Quarry Park's other co-founder, Jo Dawkins, was equally devastated.
The 81-year-old broke the news to 35 volunteers who turned up yesterday morning to work, as they do every Tuesday.
"They were absolutely gutted. How could somebody do this to us, when we're doing this for everybody else?
"We're all giving our time and our work and our expertise for the betterment of the community."
Dawkins said the park, in which planting started in 1997 after years of hard lobbying and work, had never had a theft of this magnitude.
She hoped the community would share news of the theft on social media.
"We do get good support, and I hope the public will support us."
Volunteer Stuart Kell urged whoever was responsible to "get a conscience".
"I just wanted to go back to bed. You walk in here, and it took a few minutes before I realised just what had happened. The cupboard doors were open; everything was open. They've just taken everything. They virtually cleaned us out.
"I had a few plants pinched, and I thought that was a big deal. This is unbelievable."
Ray Oakly, another volunteer at the park, was "just disappointed in the fellow bloody human being".
Dulcie Artus, the secretary for the park's incorporated society, said insurance would cover the thefts but she did not know whether the payout would be enough to replace what was taken.
The stolen ride-on mower was only 12 months old.
"It cost $12,000; we got $10,000 from Pub Charity for it."
Artus said the park's volunteers were "pretty hacked off".
Te Puna resident Tommy Wilson hoped the Tauranga community would rally behind the park's volunteers and help them to get back on their feet.
"Sadly it's the people who are already giving so much of their time, like the wonderful people up at the Te Puna Quarry, who end up being affected the most by these types of blatant thefts."
