Community spirit the silver lining in food theft

“We (had) over 100 teams coming for the weekend, lots of families to feed,” she said.

“Stocked the cool room, put a lock on it, came back on Saturday morning, and the lock had been broken and everything was cleared out.

“So we had boxes of chips, boxes of dim sims, potato cakes ... boxes of Powerades, soft drink, water; eggs, bacon for the morning, all gone.”

The basketball association quickly got into gear, rushing into supermarkets and food suppliers to replenish the stolen goods.

Among the volunteers’ destinations was Cadell Food Service, where generosity shone through.

“We pretty much just rallied and got back on our feet and had a really good day on Saturday and Sunday,” Ms Baker said.

“We have been very fortunate that Cadell have come back to us, and they’ve actually donated all the goods that were stolen out of the freezer, which is amazing.”

The group reported the incident to Echuca police, who are currently investigating.

Ms Baker said that on Saturday morning they noticed a hole cut into the wire fence behind the cool room.

“Obviously, they’ve parked behind the cool room so no-one could see them, cut the hole in the fence, gone through and helped themselves to a nice feast,” she said.

“(The police) came down first thing Saturday morning and did a report, took some evidence.

“They’ve been amazing.”

Despite the setback, the annual tournament was a success, attracting more than 120 teams from all over Victoria and NSW.

The response of the community warmed the hearts of Ms Baker and her fellow committee members.

“The amount of people it brings to Echuca-Moama, with accommodation and food and retail and everything, is phenomenal,” she said.

“Apart from that little hiccup, it was an absolute success.

“The community have been amazing, all the support, people have reached out ... asking if they can do anything and how sorry they feel for us and anything they can do to help.”