Staff and members of the Gosnells PCYC have been left devastated after thieves broke into the Kenwick centre on April 12 and stole thousands of dollars worth of equipment.
Centre manager Jackie Abbott said a roller door and lockable filing cabinets were also damaged and security cameras destroyed.
She said worst of all, the culprits destroyed participants work and artwork from term one of a specialised program called Project Stepping Stones.
Stepping Stones is a certified basic numeracy and literacy program for year 11 and 12 students who are completely disengaged from mainstream education.
The program is run in partnership with the Department of Education and Centacare to provide students with competencies towards their CGA Adult Education certification.
Ms Abbott said it was disappointing to see the centre targeted, given its positive impact in the community and its engagement with at-risk youths.
“My volunteers and my members at the centre are completely devastated,” she said.
“Most of them were in tears that somebody would do that to our centre when they should be protecting it.
“I’m really disappointed that thieves have targeted the very people who are trying to help them.
“We don’t want to see people with criminal records and we don’t want to see them unemployed or uneducated and we’re trying to address that but doing things likes this disables our ability to achieve those goals.”
Ms Abbott said most of the stolen items had been donated to the centre or purchased through fundraising efforts.
She said it took staff and volunteers a week to deal with the damage.
“The kids are on holidays, which is really fortunate because we pretty much lost the whole week so had that been mid-term we would have had devastated kids here,” she said.
She said the break-in was the third this month.
Police inquiries were continuing and anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Anyone who can donate to Gosnells PCYC can call 9459 1168 or email gosnellspcyc@wapcyc.com.au.
