Church receives helping hand
Blue Security has donated CCTV cameras to Umbilo Methodist Church following a recent spate of break-ins.
A GOOD Samaritan has reached out to the Umbilo Methodist Church after it was hit by a string of burglaries recently.
Well-known among the homeless for its soup kitchen that feeds 50 people daily, the church was hit by four burglaries and one attempted burglary in recent months. An appeal for help was featured on Facebook and prompted Blue Security to lend a helping, crime-fighting hand. .
Umbilo Methodist Church secretary Caitlin Dalgleish said the church was grateful to Blue Security who donated CCTV surveillance cameras to the church.
“A friend of ours sent out an appeal to the Glenwood community on Facebook and Gary Manthe of Blue Security contacted us. We were planning on moving over to Blue anyway because they have the most vehicles in the area and in an emergency it’s more likely Blue will get here quicker,” Dalgleish said.
She said the church needed the cameras because of all the break-ins, however they were quite expensive. She said intruders had approached the property again last week but had fled. “I just hope they don’t break in again,” she said.
Dalgleish appeals to the community for donations towards a Christmas dinner and tinned food and toiletry hampers that the church was preparing for homeless people in the area. She added that one of the bread suppliers for the soup kitchen had been cut off after other unrelated charities had allegedly been caught selling their bread donations.
Blue Security managing director Henk van Bemmelen said it was sad that churches had become victims of crime.
“We believe in giving back to our communities and had to reach out to help this small church which is doing the best that it can with minimal resources, to reach out to the less fortunate people in the neighbourhood,” van Bemmelen said.
