Church's supply of food for homeless was stolen

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WALA) - According to church members, the Holy Cross Metropolitan Community Church in Pensacola had its food pantry broken into Tuesday.

According to a report filed by the sheriff’s office, the suspects stole an AC unit and several hundred dollars worth of food.

Holy Cross Metropolitan Community Church has a limited budget, but a generous heart.

"I found the window on the backside of the food pantry had been busted into, and the AC unit was missing," said Wade McLemore, a church parishioner and volunteer.

McLemore said he noticed some boxes of cereal were missing.

"And then until I really started digging; yes, started focusing better, that's when I looked in the freezer," said McLemore. "What used to be packed full of meat, only had about a fourth of it left in there."

The church planned to hand out some of that food Wednesday.

McLemore said the food pantry helps about 50 people each week and those people feed several more at home.

"All the ribs are gone. All the sausage is gone. All the steaks are gone," said McLemore.

The stolen meat would cost you and me about $500.

"The food pantry is done on 100 percent donations. There's no budget in the church for this at all," said McLemore.

But, he said Holy Cross pays a lot less by purchasing food from the bay area food bank.

"Someone can bring me $10 worth of food up here, and it's a blessing. But, they can hand me $10, and I can go to the Bay Area Food bank and buy food at 19-cents a pound," said McLemore.

So when the church discovered the loss and realized hungry people were still going to show up counting on that food, McLemore said he went shopping.

"We don't have enough meat to give to everybody. It's first come, first serve," said McLemore.

Holy Cross said the sheriff's office investigated the crime, but does not expect to catch the suspects.

The report also states this is the third time the church has been broken into.