SF Salvation Army dealing with repeat battery theft ahead of Christmas meal deliveries

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The Salvation Army in San Francisco says a Grinch has gotten in the way of their Christmas meal deliveries.

They say multiple batteries have been stolen from their delivery trucks and they believe the most recent one was taken on Sunday night.

"My guess is they just got a car jack, put it sideways and started cranking in between these two until it broke the welds," Major Matthew Madsen of the Salvation Army in San Francisco said.

On the cusp of the Salvation Army's busiest time of the year, an unexpected setback at their SoMa location, with Christmas only two days away.

"Someone had busted through our fence, gotten to one of our trucks that has some of the items we're going to be passing out and has stolen the battery," Madsen said.

The nonprofit is gearing up to deliver 4,000 meals to home-bound seniors across the area on Christmas morning.

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But only a few weeks ago, Major Madsen says the batteries were stolen from another delivery truck in the same lot.

"Those were stolen and we decided not to put those in there until we needed to move them because we didn't want the new ones to get stolen," he said.

Inside of one these trucks, is filled with non-perishable goods that were set aside for Wednesday's meal deliveries that they can't get to without a battery.

"It's very, very frustrating and yeah there's cost involved, but it's more just - why are we doing this?" Madsen said. "It's right before Christmas, it's disheartening."

And their string of bad luck didn't end there.

Just as they were dealing with the stolen battery Monday morning, they got a call that five gunshots went into their Bayview location overnight, shattering the front door and leaving another bullet lodged in a wall inside.

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"We're just trying to do the best we can to serve our community, and unfortunately the Salvation Army is in the communities that need our support the most and oftentimes, those can be rough communities," he said.

Now, they need more help than ever, with 40 volunteers still needed to make sure no senior goes hungry this Christmas.

"It's like delivery - Uber Eats or what not, and you go and pass this meal out to a senior who might be, that might be the only person they see on Christmas day," he said.

Despite the speed bumps, and with a new battery on the way, Major Madsen is hopeful all meals will still be delivered.

"Christmas is all about hope, the hope of the world, and so if we can't have hope during Christmas, we can't have hope during any other time of the year and that's why we have hope," Madsen said. "And we know that we're going to be fine, we're going to bless others and we'll move forward.

If you'd like to volunteer for the Salvation Army in San Francisco, click here.