Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...ANTIOCH — The staff of a nonprofit in Antioch is hoping a fundraiser this weekend will help them replace dozens of computers and other equipment stolen just days before the start of their summer tutoring program for students.
Calling it an “emergency taco fundraiser,” RR Transitional Housing will host the event on Sunday at their multi-purpose facility at 512 W. Second St. in Antioch, where Executive Director Sandro Trujillo said the organization lost 40 Chromebooks and other equipment during the break-in last Friday.
The Chromebooks, donated by the Antioch Rotary Club and the Leo Fontana Family Foundation, were used for tutoring students, homework support, job-readiness training, and other educational programs, Trujillo said.
During the summer, the organization gets about 30 to 35 students for its summer tutoring program, which is scheduled to start on July 1.
“We are on a time crunch,” said Trujillo. “We need to at least come up with enough money to buy some Chromebooks for our kids.”
Apart from the stolen equipment, burglars also damaged the center’s door, gates, security cameras, alarm system, and internet cables.
Trujillo estimates the total damages at around $25,000.
“The Chromebooks were donated to us, and they were the nice ones because they had to be capable of commercial use, so it’s not the standard ones. We looked at the receipt, and it was valued at $18,000,” said Trujillo. “What kills me is the street value, whoever who did this, if they tried to sell it, they won’t get more than $3,000, but it has left us with a deficit of $18,000.”
Besides the tutoring center in Antioch, Trujillo said the computers are also used for programs in Pittsburg, where they tutor 6th-to-12th-grade students.
“We have over 90 students there,” he said.
Community support has poured in since news of the burglary spread, Trujillo said. Some church members and parents from the tutoring program have approached him to help by donating meat and other items needed for the fundraiser.
A community member also started a GoFundMe page for the organization, Trujillo said
“You can steal from us, but you’re not going to keep us down, because the community is stronger than the burglars,” said Trujillo.