LAYTON, Utah — The Layton Habitat for Humanity ReStore was burglarized over the weekend, putting their community home build on hold due to financial strain.
Layton Police confirmed to FOX 13 that the ReStore building and a nearby Asian Buffet Restaurant were broken into around or before 5 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 19.
Jeannie Gamble, Executive Director with Habitat for Humanity Weber and Davis Counties believes that multiple people pried open a garage door, stole tools and broke open a private office to access the safe and donation jar.
“They were in here for quite some time,” said Gamble. "It’s very disheartening actually and then they took the tools and left our place; robbed the Chinese restaurant in front of us.”
The suspects took all the money from the donation jar and used Habitat's own tools to break open the safe and steal the cash. Habitat for Humanity says the theft will impact them and the community immediately.
“It’s actually halting our home build that we just poured the foundation on,” said Gamble who has an Ogden family waiting for a new home. “My staff, my volunteers put blood, sweat and tears into helping the county, the community and the people that live here."
Gamble said they recently applied for a grant to properly equip the building with a security system.
“We are a nonprofit, we don’t have 10,000 dollars to property do security on the facility,” she said. Habitat for Humanity relies heavily on volunteers, donations and funds from both the Layton and Ogden ReStore's to work on community projects.
“Now more than ever we could really use the local support of our communities,” said Kate Ketner, Resource Development Director. “The more people shop and donate to our Layton store, the quicker we will be able to get back to building and repairing homes."
If you'd like to donate to help get Habitat for Humanity back on track, you can donate via Venmo: @Habitat-HumanityWD, visit their website: https://www.habitatwd.org/ or make a donation in the Layton ReStore at 859 West Hill Field Road.
