JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The concession stand at McGirts Creek Community Center on Jacksonville’s Westside was vandalized back-to-back nights this week.
The concession stand is frequently visited by people with the West Duval Youth Association who fill the stands at the ball fields.
But parents told News4Jax that the city came out to put plywood over the broken windows Thursday after it was broken into the first time Wednesday night, but Thursday night, the vandals struck again.
Parents said money and food were stolen, and whoever did it also cooked hot dogs and made a huge mess.
“It’s sad," said Billy Gathright, the baseball director of the park, and just one of the engaged parents who gives his time and energy at the ballpark on 118th Street. "We’re a nonprofit organization. So everything we make we put back into the community and the kids."
Gathright said parents are frustrated because the money lost could have been spent investigating in the community.
“(It’s) basically vandalism. It happens everywhere," Gathright said. "A few years ago, (it) happened at Argyle. It happens at our other facility off Wheat Road. The sad part about it is, especially around school, when school starts getting out, closer to the summertime, you get a lot of vandalism, things like that."
Gathright and other families said it’s frustrating and it’s not fair.
“They’re taking away from the program. Really they’re not hurting themselves, but they’re hurting the younger generation. The kids that’re trying to do right and stay on the right path. If they got too much free time on their hands, come out and volunteer, participate in something like this, help out a program, instead of hurting it,” Gathright said.