Donations have been stolen from St Vincent de Paul Society's Bega store and a fire was started behind its building.
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On Monday, July 29, when one of the store's staff arrived in the morning they saw smoke rising at the back of the building where the conference room is, so investigated and found wooden garden bed logs had been set alight and clothes were dumped in the yard.
The staff member threw a bucket of water on the fire to put it out.
The clothes had been taken from the donation bin at the front of the store and heaped together near the fire in what looked like an attempt to make a bed, then rubbish had been left on the pile.
The incident has been reported to the police, but the clothes have to be discarded.
"We don't know how much damage has been done to them," a store spokesperson said.
"I can't believe they would do such a thing.
"We're here for the community to help them out."
A Vinnies team member said of the incident: "This seems to be the actions of someone desperately trying to keep warm. We want to let them know that we're here to help. Rather than taking the blankets from the donation bin, come in to the shop, speak to our team and we can offer you assistance."