WINTERS, Calif. — Meals on Wheels Yolo County is working to recover an estimated $10,000 worth of prepared frozen meals and perishable food items.
The nonprofit says vandals cut power to their meal production facility in Winters over Memorial Day weekend. The food services manager and staff discovered the power was out.
"As they went to the walk-in cool storage and the walk-in freezer units, that's when they saw the spoiled meals and the spoiled raw ingredients which was very, very disheartening," said executive director Joy Cohan.
She says someone tampered with the building's electrical panel and switched off the power, causing their refrigerators and freezers to shut down for 24-48 hours. They lost prepared food and raw ingredients — enough to make a total of 2,600 meals — which would have gone to Yolo County seniors in need. Volunteers drive the meals to their homes a few times a week.
"It was the police department's opinion that this is probably the work of youth with too much time on their hands or perhaps a transient," Cohan said. "Somebody may have just been out to pull a prank on a holiday weekend, but who the real victim was (was) an isolated senior somewhere in the county."
The Winters Police Department says there are no suspects and they dusted for fingerprints.
Meals on Wheels staff cleaned up the spoiled food and facility, but they are still working to recover their losses. They're reordering new supplies and remaking the lost meals to continue serving the community.
Meals on Wheels says insurance will cover some of the losses, but not all. They're hoping the community will be able to support them during this tough time. If you'd like to help, click here.
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