Replacement sought for stolen day care van

YOUNGSTOWN —  Kollege Tots & Kids Day Care is looking for some help to replace a 15-passenger van that was stolen from its McGuffey Road driveway and destroyed.

The van driver had started the vehicle to warm it up to transport children from the center on Dec. 4 and left it unattended when he went back to the building to help bring the children out, said Donna Gibson, owner of the facility.

The driver always locks the van as he gets out and thought he had locked it this time as well, Gibson said. However, as the driver reached the building, he saw the van backing out of the driveway. He gave chase on foot, but the thief, identified only as a young man between the ages of 16 and 19, sped away, Gibson said.

Police told her they recovered the van Dec. 7 at an Eastway Drive apartment complex about three miles away, she said.

It had been “completely destroyed,” Gibson said.   The vehicle had apparently been rammed into a tree or pole and the interior was ripped up, she said, adding that the children’s car seats kept in the vehicle were also destroyed.

There has been no arrest in the theft and the van was still sitting in the police impound lot this week, she said.

Kollege Tots & Day Care, in operation since 1999, has about two dozen children from infants to age 12 enrolled in its programs and many of them rely on the facility for transportation.   The number of children grows to about 40 in the summer.

Gibson said she’s been using her own minivan to transport kids since the passenger van was stolen, but it can only hold five at a time and numerous trips are required to transport everyone needing a ride.

She said three children have dropped out of the program as a result of the transportation problem.

Kollege Tots has received a donation of several new children’s car seats since the theft but doesn’t have a van to put them in.

Gibson said the stolen vehicle, a 2000 model, was purchased about three years ago. It was insured, but the book value it had isn’t enough to buy another suitable vehicle, she said.   She recently put an addition onto the building and made other improvements that make funds short right now, so buying another large passenger van isn’t something the facility can handle on its own in the immediate future, she said.

Gibson is looking to the public for some assistance.

She’s set up a fund at National City Bank to handle any donations that may come in to help replace the van. Contributions should be directed to the “Looking Back Fund” to benefit Kollege Tots and Kids Day Care.