Commercial Grill Stolen From A Non-Profit That Feeds Homeless People

A nonprofit that helps people experiencing homelessness and hunger is crowdsourcing for a new grill on GoFundMe after someone stole their only commercial grill in early April.

Involve MN said the grill, which had its own rotisserie capable of cooking 24 chickens at once, was the "cornerstone" of its ability to cook on the street for hundreds of people in events around Minneapolis, St. Paul, Coon Rapids, Crystal and Bloomington.

Involve MN, which planned an event for this weekend before the grill was stolen, told Bring Me The News it will have to scale back the planned event and will likely only be able to make about a quarter of the number of meals volunteers could have prepared with the grill.

"There's just nothing else in our inventory that we have – or that we could rent, frankly – that could allow us to feed that volume of people," said Grant Snyder, Involve MN's vice president of operations and outreach.

A replacement for the custom-made grill will cost $15,000, according to the GoFundMe. As of Tuesday afternoon, the organization has raised $550.

According to Involve MN, the organization currently produces over 8,000 weekly meals and the grill alone contributed to over 100 community events since the group got the equipment in 2020, feeding thousands of people before it was stolen.

"This was a huge hit for us going into spring and summer, which is when we start booking all these events and start doing this stuff," Snyder said.

Snyder added that he's resigned to the fact that the grill is gone – but he's hopeful people will help.

The link to the GoFundMe is here. All donations are tax-deductible and go directly to Involve MN.

There are no details available regarding the suspected thieves.

SOURCE: Bring Me The News