SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Thieves crippled a San Deigo non-profit’s group mission Thursday night, stealing a piece of equipment that they spent $15,000 on.
“This was a pretty big hit for us,” said Josh Pratchard of Second Chance Fields. The nonprofit remodels sports fields in schools that do not have the budget to fix them.
“(We) make sure kids have a safe place to play," he said. “We’re a small organization doing big things.”
Friday morning, Pratchard realized someone stole their specialized ATV. It's a piece of equipment that the nonprofit uses to work on the fields they refurbish. Pratchard runs the nonprofit from his home-office, and parks the ATV in his complex.
He tells 10News that the thieves must have gotten into the lot and loaded up the ATV on a trailer.
“I immediately went into panic mode,” Pratchard said. "And after that my realization that we have a project that’s supposed to start February 10 and 11, and the main piece of equipment...that the whole project was resting on...we don’t have it."
The nonprofit was set to work on San Diego High School’s softball field. Now, they won’t be able to do the work until they get another ATV.
“We use (it) to move in concrete, lumber, water for the volunteers,” he said.
The nonprofit spent $15,000 on the ATV, and they can’t easily purchase another one. Pratchard is asking that people keep an eye out for the ATV and contact if they have any information.
A friend started a GoFundMe page to help the nonprofit raise funds for a new ATV, if theirs is not recovered.
