It seems that no matter how good a cause is, there are individuals who would like to see it burn. The bountiful Clair Community Garden in North Omaha, Nebraska, was vandalized less than 24 hours after celebrating a new grant. Nearly every plant was destroyed. Pastor Portia Cavitt walked into the scene on Friday morning, according to KMTV 3 News Now, and took note of the damage. She later reviewed security camera footage and saw someone moving through the garden with a flashlight.
The watermelons the community’s kids had been growing took most of the damage. Cavitt said the plants were picked and pulled up. The smaller watermelons haven’t been found. It’s believed that whoever came through may have carried them off. She said the children had watched over the plants every day and were devastated by the damage, describing herself as shaken and upset by the situation.
The garden’s grant had arrived days earlier. CHI awarded the community $46,000 to expand its nutrition education and health work, which it runs alongside North Omaha Area Health and the North Free Clinic. None of that money can go toward replacing what was destroyed, according to Cavitt. That leaves the nonprofit without a clear route to recovering the plants…