Chabad centres in NDG, Cte-St-Luc broken into, donation boxes stolen

A Chabadcentrein Montreal'sNotre-Dame-de-Grceneighbourhood was broken into early Friday morning and had its handmade charity box stolen.

According to police, the same thing happened at aChabad centreinCte-St-Luctwo weeks ago.

Bernathfirst noticed the break-in when he arrived at the Chabadcentrefor the Sabbath.

He says he saw the handmade wood-carved donation box had been "yanked off the wall."

"It was made by a local carpenter,someone from the synagogue," saidBernath. "It took him a lot of time."

Bernathsaid the box was not regularly emptiedand could have contained anywhere from $500 to $1,000.

4 break-ins in 2 years

Bernathsaid this isthefourth break-in they've had in the past twoyears.

After theirmenorah was vandalized in December 2015, theChabad centreheld a crowd-funding campaign to purchase new security cameras.

"We got the best night vision cameras we could," saidBernath. "The police couldn't believe how clear the pictures were."

They caught the whole thing on camera, noting that the thief spent 45 minutes trying to gain access to the front door and at one point left to return later with tools.

Bernathfiled a report with the Montreal police, saying they would put aninvestigator on it right away.

As for the thief,Bernathwishes him no ill will.

"Obviouslythis person spent a lot of time to get this money," he said. "Ihope the money serves this person well but that someday he'll be able to turn his life around."

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