Thieves caught stealing from donation bin for homeless children

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Two women and a man were caught on camera stealing from a clothing donation bin in Van Nuys that helps homeless children.

The thieves stuffed a shopping cart full of clothes from the bins located in a Big Lots parking lot near Sepulveda Boulevard and Sherman Way in Van Nuys around 2 p.m. Tuesday.

The bin belongs to American Textile Recycling Services, a business that gives a portion of its proceeds to charities including Giving Children Hope, a faith-based nonprofit in Buena Park that supports school lunches for students in poor families in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Sean Lawrence, executive director of Giving Children Hope, said the program feeds about 4,000 people each week. Backpacks are filled with food that can feed the kids and their families for an entire week. He said about 1,300 backpacks are given out each week to families.

"This isn't just affecting another business's bottom line. This is affecting people's survival," Lawrence said. "People that we're serving through this program have been identified by the schools as the poorest of the poor. These are homeless families, mostly living in motels or multiple families to a room."

Anyone with tips on people who are stealing from the donation bins are asked to call the ATRS Clothing and Shoe Recyclers' 24-hour hotline at (866) 900-9308.

If you want to help Giving Children Hope, visit their website at http://gchope.org/.