TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) -
Somebody broke into a storage unit behind Junior League of Tucson headquarters this week and stole an undisclosed amount of merchandise set aside for the League's annual "Rummage Sale."
It's not so much the theft itself as it is the timing of the theft.
We're just over two weeks from the Junior League's biggest and only fundraiser of the year, an event that raises between $30,000 and $50,000 annually.
The fact that they're dealing with this today is a real downer, both for Junior League's 500 members (150 active, 350 sustained) and for the people they help on a regular basis.
For those of you who don't know, Junior League of Tucson is a non-profit, all women's organization that raises money for the less fortunate in our community.
Every spring, they put on a huge rummage sale, the biggest such sale in Southern Arizona, in fact -- showcasing all the items donated to the organization throughout the year.
This includes toys, clothing, furniture, electronics- anything and everything that's then sold at the sale at a very affordable price.
Some of those very items were stolen from a storage container this week.
We're not sure when exactly, but it was probably sometime between Monday and Wednesday night, Pima County Sheriff's officials say. "But unfortunately as of right now, we have no suspects."
"This theft does set us back in the amount of merchandise we have," says Amber Dzik, fund development director for Junior League of Tucson. "But we're definitely looking to the community to donate anything they can to our rummage sale. They can call our office or they can check out our web site online -- and all of the donations are tax deductible."
Junior League officials say they are beefing up security here to try and stop this from happening again.
"Our rummage sale really provides a lot of quality goods to the less fortunate people in the community, because the prices are so low," Dzik says. "So everything the vandals actually stole from us, in essence, is taking away from the community."
If you have any information about what happened call 911 or 88-CRIME.
If you're able to come on down to the rummage sale March 7th and 8th at the Tucson Expo Center near I-10 and Irvington.
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