‘It’s sad’: Heartless act causes outrage after thieves destroy Vinnies food vans

More than 100 hungry people in need will be impacted each night after a callous act from thieves in Melbourne.

St Vincent De Paul volunteers have been repeatedly targeted by thieves, impacting their ability to feed hungry Melburnians who rely on their services.

On Sunday night, four of their food vans had their catalytic converters, an exhaust emission control device, stolen in Maribyrnong in Footscray.

It means the vans can longer be driven, with St Vincent De Paul soup van manager Melissa Walton telling 9 News on Tuesday that it would mean a “30 to 40 per cent” drop in services.

Five Vinnies food vans have been destroyed after their catalytic converters were stolen. Picture: 9 News

It means the vans can longer be driven, with St Vincent De Paul soup van manager Melissa Walton telling 9 News on Tuesday that their services would drop by “30 to 40 per cent”.

“We won’t be able to take as much food out, we won’t be able to reach as many people,” Ms Walton said.

“We just want to help people, we just want to feed people and make things a little bit better for some people that need a bit of help.”

It’s not the first time the volunteers have been targeted after the fuel line to one of their vans was cut two weeks ago to siphon out petrol.

The van was repaired and returned to the road only to have its catalytic converter stolen just a few days later.

“It‘s sad that somebody needed to do it and it’s sad that we’ll be doing less in the community in the next couple of weeks because this has happened,” Ms Walton said.

St Vincent De Paul soup van manager Melissa Walton said volunteers would be doing less in the community because of the callous act. Picture: 9 News

Vinnies is raising money to fix the vans, saying more than 100 people will be impacted a night until the vans are up and running again.

The group is looking for more secure parking over fears the thieves will strike again.

Originally published as ‘It’s sad’: Heartless act causes outrage after thieves destroy Vinnies food vans