ROCKLIN, Calif. — Rock Harbor Church in Rocklin has a story of hope, and it begins with a $5,000 theft.
Business was popping all week at the TNT Fireworks stand run by Rock Harbor Church’s youth group. Senior High Director Brittney Land said the church uses money from the fireworks stand to help teens in their youth group pay for camp and mission trips.
"This is our first year at this location,” she said at the stand in the Bank of America parking lot on Sunset Boulevard near Park Drive in Rocklin. “We have been at other locations in the past, and we had the opportunity to start over at a new location that had historically bigger sales."
They were on track to set a fundraising record, but then came Wednesday morning.
“We had a huge break in, and it cost us about $5,000,” Land said. “They cut out all the bolts and everything like that."
Someone had broken into the on-site shipping container where they were storing the fireworks.
“We realized that the big raffle prize that we do every year was stolen: 'the Big Bang,' retail price is over $500," Land said as she assessed her inventory.
Youth group member Cody Simmons, 11, was particularly disappointed at that news. He had been doing extra chores, so his parents would buy more raffle tickets.
"Once I heard it was stolen Wednesday night, I was super bummed,” Simmons told ABC10, recalling the day. “I think they were rude people, the people who broke in and stole the $5,000 worth of fireworks."
Youth leaders, however, took this as an opportunity to forgive. Church members prayed for whoever stole the fireworks. They also set up an overnight watch outside the shipping container for the remainder of the week of sales.
"And then people were just amazing,” Land said. “They started donating their tips. They started giving us their change. They started just, like, buying extra from us, and it was so cool. The whole community was rallying around us. We ended up selling out!"
Land said selling out is something the church has never done in its 15 years of fireworks sales.
Because this year they were in a new, busier location, Land said, "we're still going to make a bunch of money for our youth group."
After the loss from the theft, taxes and paying TNT Fireworks their share, Land said, the church will still net about three times more than their previous fireworks fundraising record.
"It's a total miracle. It's awesome,” she said.
As for Simmons, the church put together a new raffle prize – albeit a little smaller – and his family won!
"I was so stoked that we won the raffle,” Simmons said. “We're pretty much (are) going to light them off and our neighbors are going to watch from their house."
And because Land and her team sold out by 5 p.m. on the Fourth of July, she gets to the rest of the holiday with loved ones.
“We get to do fireworks with our families because we're sold out before it gets dark," said Land.
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