WOODWAY, Texas — The search is on for a stolen trailer that belongs to a Central Texas Boy Scout Troop after it disappeared from where it's typically stored.
BSA Troop 377 is now out of thousands of dollars in trailer, gear and equipment. What bothers most of the scouts is that many priceless memories, sentimental items and history are now gone as well.
"We would really like our camping stuff back and specifically our sentimental handmade stuff," said Justin Huff, a scout of Troop 377.
"You stole from boys, you stole from kids, you stole from people that just wanted to be friends, be outdoorsy," said Scout Master Richard Sassman. "You didn't steal from a business, you didn't steal from somebody that was making money off of it. We're a nonprofit. We all put money into this and you're stealing from kids, that's the bottom line."
Sassman estimates that the troop's stolen items ring up to a total of around $12,000-$15,000. He said the troop works hard to fundraise for those items, but nothing can replace the history of the items inside the trailer.
"There's stuff in the trailer that is generations old from scouts in the past, we've lost all our history," Sassman said. "Anything we needed to go camping. We could camp anywhere we wanted with that trailer. We had water in there, so self-sustaining the whole way and all that's gone now. It's just wrong to take from kids. I mean, I'm sorry you needed the trailer but now we don't have anything."
The trailer is described as a white, enclosed 8.5'x12' trailer with "Troop 377" printed on the side. The trailer was reportedly full of camping supplies such as tents, sleeping bags, coolers and more. It was stolen from the Woodway First United Methodist Church sometime between the evening of Feb. 20 and the late afternoon of Feb. 23.
It was the only one stolen among the other trailers parked in the parking lot and may have been a selective choice by the thieves.
"Honestly I think it was because it was labeled as a Boy Scout trailer and people know that there's camping equipment in there, pricey equipment," said Caleshe Voges, the troops' committee chair. "I mean camping equipment is pretty easy to resell too."
Voges and the rest of the committee are working to figure out how they can get back on track and get restocked to continue to do what the troop loves.
"We'll have to figure out what we can afford as the troop and then what we can also fundraise and or get donated to get everything back," Voges said.
Despite the trailer being stolen before the troop's big camping weekend, they were able to still go with personal resources. It also taught scouts about adversity and overcoming challenges.
A GoFundMe has been created to help raise funds to replace the stolen gear. If you are interested in donating, click here.
Woodway Police confirmed to 6 News a police report has been filed and they are working to see if any nearby surveillance footage caught the theft.
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