A thief has stolen a laptop and cash from food waste community group Resurrected Bites.
The culprit took the items from the organisation’s give as you can cafe at West Park United Reformed Church in Harrogate on Wednesday while volunteers were helping people in need.
Resurrected Bites works with local businesses and suppliers to divert food from landfill and converts it into meals in its cafes in Harrogate and Knaresborough. It also operates a community groceries scheme.
Michelle Hayes, founder and director of Resurrected Bites, said:
“We are gutted and hope the person will do the right thing and return what they took.”
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Ms Hayes said no personal data had been compromised but added the incident had been a “wake-up call”:
“It was an opportunistic thief at lunchtime. We will have to be a lot more vigilant on security going forward.
“We are a naturally trusting group of people and it’s very sad that someone would steal from us.”
The Stray Ferret is running a Christmas appeal to raise money for Resurrected Bites, after it issued a plea for funding to keep its services alive.
The target was originally £5,000, which was achieved in days, and has since been raised to £20,000. The current total is £12,800. You can donate here.
Churchgoers in Bilton have delighted children each day during Holy Week by giving away free Easter chicks.
Members of Bilton Grange United Reformed Church have knitted 165 chicks and leave about 20 on the hedge outside the church each morning.
Each one contains a message saying, ‘Please take this free gift’.
The volunteers have run similar community-minded initiatives during other Christian festivals. For instance, they have put out angels at Christmas and doves at Whitsun to spread joy.
The gifts are knitted at their social gatherings.
Norma Trotter, who is one of the volunteers, said:
“There’s so many sad things going on in the world so we just hope it will raise a smile and make some children happy.
“It gives us pleasure to make them happy and it spreads the Easter message. If you do good you feel good.”
The chicks will appear on the hedge at the junction of Skipton Road and Woodfield Road every morning until Easter Sunday.
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