Warehouse storing diaper donations ransacked twice

ELKHART, Ind. -- An Elkhart warehouse, owned by Cultivate Foods, was broken into twice within a matter of weeks.

The building is a shared space for local charities, including the nonprofit Babies Basic Needs Corp. They are renting a space in the warehouse to store donated baby item, like diapers and wipes, that they handout to those in need for free.

The founder and CEO of Babies Basic Needs Corp., Kelsey Tubbs, explained the first break-in happened on Oct. 20, just four days after they moved into the warehouse.

Tubbs says the vandal went after the break room, stealing donated snacks, drinks, and a golf cart owned by Cultivate Foods. However, within the next few days, all those items were found abandoned just one street over.

“I would like to hope that the people that broke in were peaceful and just looking for what they needed, but I don’t know, it causes a bit of anxiety when you don’t know,” said Tubbs.

The second break in was noticed on Nov. 14. The Elkhart Police Department said no one was inside when they cleared the building, but the unknown suspect(s) did damage to doors, bused in a metal panel, and broke a window.

Tubbs says over $500 worth of items were stolen during the second break-in, including all of the items originally taken, but whoever broke in did leave most of the baby supplies alone.

“Any of the other things of ours have them. But I didn’t want to lose the ability to help Northern Indiana. You know I didn’t wanna lose the ability to help over 5000 kids. That’s what we have,” expressed Tubbs.

Cultivate Foods explained they are going to use that building in the future, using it for storage in the meantime. So, none of their property was stolen other than the returned golf cart, but they said they are installing a security system.

Elkhart Police Department said there is no further information on the suspect and the case is still under investigation.

If Babies Basic Needs Corp. is something you would like to get in contact with to volunteer, make donations, or to access their resources, you can click here, email [email protected], or call 574-218-5481.

“If they knew that we are nonprofits who are trying to provide this to them, you know, trying to provide food, trying to provide diapers in our case, maybe they wouldn’t have broken in. Because the majority of the items they stole tell me that there was some sort of insecurity there and we’re trying to fill that insecurity in the community,” said Tubbs