Gresham preschool burglarized ahead of holidays, owner says ‘it’s going to put a dent in things’

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Little Harvard Learning Center Director Molly Loveland was going into work after the Thanksgiving break to get a head start on cleaning but it wasn’t until she went to get her supplies that she realized they’d been ransacked.

“Our carpet shampooer was taken, which is an item that we do use regularly here to keep our center clean and then I had purchased some playground equipment that was still in the box and hadn’t been built yet, that was taken. Our weed eater for manicuring the property was taken,” Loveland said. “It’s pretty sad and shocking.”

The suspect even took her Ring camera.

“That’s something that we kind of depend on to surveil our area and then something we use in case something like this does happen to look back at it but now it’s gone,” she said.

Loveland opened up the preschool a year ago, so she does her own cleaning and landscaping to save money. Now, the money to replace those stolen essentials is going to have to come out of her budget she’d like to use to give back to the families she helps.

“We’re gearing up for Christmas right now. So, something I really like to do is provide things for families that we serve here at Christmastime so that’s something we were budgeting for as well,” she said. “I’m not going to stop now but it’s definitely going to put a dent in things and make things harder for us. It’s unfortunate.”

If you’d like to help out, Loveland set up a GoFundMe to help replace items. You can donate here.

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