A thief stole a trailer loaded with a scout troop's camping gear right out of a church parking lot.
The Trail Life Troop 518 parked their trailer at the Warren Wood Baptist Church, and they noticed it was missing early Thursday morning.
"We fundraised for that trailer for 2 years and purchased it brand new and outfitted it with a bunch of shelves and wood and made it up, all of that gear is gear that we accumulated since we formed about 11 years ago,” said Phil Beauchamp, the troop leader.
The Trail Life troop is also made up of Boy Scouts according to Beauchamp.
The trailer holds gear for about 30 boys in all and they use it to camp about once a month.
Beauchamp said the campouts are a big reason these boys are in the scouts.
"It gives them confidence it shows them skills, they build lifelong friendships and we have been able to see the boys do things they never would imagine that they could do,” said Beauchamp.
One of their biggest campouts of the year is happening this weekend.
”We had a campout planned for tomorrow and we are still going to go on that camp out, but we are going to have to scrap together a bunch of personal gear, everyone's running to the store to buy pots and pans,” said Beauchamp.
Even though they won’t be taking the trailer along, they are not going to let this theft stop them.
"We're going to show that the scouts are all about making the best out of a bad situation and we're still going to go tomorrow,” said Beauchamp.
The troop has a gofundme account set up, you can find a link here. They’re also interested in any old camping gear people might be willing to donate.
