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‘Slapped In The Face’

St. Susan Center's freezer, a piece of equipment critical to their operations of helping to feed people in Jamestown, was vandalized over the weekend.

St Susan Center reported the incident via Facebook on Monday, saying that around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, individuals "completely gutted" the compressor system of the 28' by 28' freezer. St Susan Center serves 150 to 200 people on a daily basis, and the freezer system "is essential to storing the food that helps us fulfill our mission" the post said.

St Susan Center Executive Director Cherie Rowland told The Post-Journal that they were first alerted to something being wrong through alarms on Sunday morning.

"On Sunday morning we received alarms from the building saying our freezer went down, and that was at about 5:30 on Sunday morning," Rowland said. "I got here about 6 a.m. and I ended up checking out what was going on, and we found that the condensers were completely gutted."

The condensers for the freezer sit outside on the ground, and Rowland said they look a little like air conditioning condensers, adding that the person who did the damage might not have known what they were tearing apart. The electric and cords and hoses to the freezer were cut, and the copper was completely stripped from all of the condensers that ran the freezer. The Jamestown Police Department and repair company arrived on Monday morning.

The current estimate to have the freezer fixed is $20,000.

St Susan Center President Greg Lindquist added that there is some insurance coverage but it is questionable how much will be covered. Lindquist said a lot of the products in the freezer were gifted to St Susan Center from major retailers in the area, including Wegmans, Tops Markets, Panera Bread, Ecklof's Bakery, Target and Walmart.

"Those entities gave freely from their bottom line to help feed the hungry and needy in the Jamestown area," Lindquist said. "It feels like we got slapped in the face that this happened, and we're trying to do the best that we can here and assist those that need assistance with food sustenance in the Jamestown area."

Both Lindquist and Rowland expressed their gratitude to Jamestown Ice Company, who came to their rescue after the incident. Rowland said they were able to monitor the freezer system from Sunday to Monday morning. Rowland added that not having any idea what a repair would look like or cost, it was still her hope then that a fix could happen immediately. The refrigeration was still working below zero degrees, so Rowland reported things were still in good shape by Monday morning. On Monday, they were able to unload and take about 3,000 pounds of food over to Jamestown Ice Company, who allowed them to bring it over to their business. The center also called Chautauqua County Pantries to let them know they had meat and frozen produce available and they came within a few hours. Altogether, Rowland said they unloaded the freezer in about five hours.

"So that part of our food recovery was saved," Rowland said. "But, because our freezer was taken out of commission, it's so much bigger than that. Our food recovery program is an amazing program. It allows us to feed 60,000 meals a year with such a small budget. We didn't have just the equipment that was damaged, it was a tool that allowed us to take in this recovery food and be able to process it and do the meals that we do every day, feeding 150 to 200 people a day."

Plans have been worked out with Jamestown Ice Company to continue the food recovery effort and to get the meals out, but Rowland added whoever damaged the freezer made it more difficult and made it so they are less efficient, saying that it was "sad that this was done."

The Jamestown Police Department is still investigating the incident, and Rowland said they are waiting for the police to finish that investigation. They are also coordinating with other businesses that have cameras as well to do a step-by-step picture as to what happened.

"The police have been amazing," Rowland said. "They were here this morning at 4:30, there were six patrol men with their vehicles out patrolling this morning at 4:30 and it was so appreciative. They're taking great care of us."

The overall support from the community after the incident has been amazing, Rowland said, including from Jamestown Ice and the police who were both quick to help, along with St Susan Center's neighbors, Community Helping Hands and the Mental Health Association also helping and providing support. The overall community support has been wonderful as well.

"We talked probably full on in June about working to replace our freezer, and now it makes it more important than ever to replace that freezer," Rowland said. "It was an old freezer, and it needed some work done, and now it's more important than ever."

During Give Big CHQ the center had also included that they were trying to add funds to the freezer fund, and they do have some grants from the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Empire State Development, along with Cummins providing a $30,000 grant towards a freezer.

"A freezer that size is very expensive, and we have an impressive operation with our food recovery program and we're able to turn that food right around," Rowland said. "What makes it so valuable is the tools such as the freezer and refrigeration we have."

The Battle of the Badges is also coming up soon, and Rowland invited any aspiring cooks in the Jamestown or surrounding areas to come down and have some friendly competition to help replace the freezer. People can also make donations to St Susan Center through the donation tab on their website, stsusancenter.org. Volunteers are always welcome, and Rowland asked that people keep praying for St Susan Center and the people they serve as well.

"We are so grateful to this community, to the Jamestown community," Rowland said. "Together, all of us can persevere through hard times. Sometimes we're given challenges and it forges us into better, stronger, leaner, organizations."

Lindquist agreed, saying he could not say it any better, and adding that the main takeaway is that no matter what happens, the St. Susan Center will still be there to serve the community.

Rowland and Lindquist thanked the Jamestown Police Department for their quick response, and for the community's help so far. They encouraged everyone to visit their website to see how they can help. Anyone with more information in regards to the gutting of the freezer system can report it to the Jamestown Police Department at 716-483-7356.