A trailer containing thousands of dollars worth of Wollongong Rotary Club's equipment was stolen on Friday night, leaving the community shocked and disappointed.
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Club president Rod Oxley estimates more than $10,000 was lost in assets through the theft which occurred from a storage area in Wollongong.
The trailer contained all the club's barbecue equipment, tables, marquee, and landscaping tools they use for working bees at Mt Keira Summit Park.
The club had planned to put on a free community breakfast barbecue in Wollongong's Crown Street Mall on Saturday as part of an NBN Connect Roadshow family day. Mr Oxley said they were unable to fulfil that commitment due to the theft.
"When we went on Saturday to pick up the trailer and take it into the mall it was no longer there," he said. "It appears it was stolen overnight on Friday."
Mr Oxley said a post he had written on social media about about the trailer's theft had attracted scores of comments from people who were "disgusted" about the loss of the community asset.
"Rotary is a community-based organisation which depends on volunteers and we provide a lot of community service work, as we were going to do on Saturday, and to have this occur really does leave a sour taste in our mouths," he said. "All the work we do voluntarily is for the benefit of the community.
"Our barbecues are often done as fundraisers to help the various programs we support, whether it be youth programs or the School of St Jude in Tanzania.
"Our club generates most of its revenue by undertaking barbecues which we then channel into various community organisations and events."
The theft has been reported to police who are investigating.
"If the trailer doesn't turn up we've got to go through that process of replacing it and that impacts on our ability to provide services to the community," he said.