Vandals strike Ontario Eastern Little League just before opening weekend, dealing blow to funding

ONTARIO, Calif. (KABC) -- The Ontario Eastern Little League is rebuilding its snack stand after $2,500 worth of snack bar equipment and snacks were stolen ahead of its opening weekend.

Aaron Matthiesen, the Ontario Eastern Little League treasurer, noticed something was wrong when the latch securing the doors to the snack bar trailer was cut open.

"Pretty much everything was gone," said Matthiesen. "They wiped out about $2,500 worth of snack bar equipment and snacks that we had in place for the first weekend of games, which start tomorrow."

The snack stand's hot dog roller and nacho warmer are gone, as the entire trailer was wiped clean.

A snack stand may seem trivial, but for the Ontario Little League it means so much more than a couple of corn dogs and nachos. The money made from the snack stand supports the players, providing them with necessary league items like equipment.

"The snack bar is the number one money maker for a Little League," said Matthiesen. "All of that money goes back to the children. It buys equipment, kids don't have helmets, kids don't have bats, kids don't have gloves, we buy that for them and we provide them to them as a league."

To add insult to injury, the thieves also broke a window in the old snack bar building that is currently shuddered for renovations.

Thankfully for the league and its players, the Ontario Police Association has stepped in to provide them with a $2,500 donation to recover the costs lost to the robbery.

"The Ontario Police Officers Association is graciously committed to donating the $2500 that was lost that is coming out of their association fees, which is fantastic," said Matthiesen. "We cannot thank them enough."

The city will also be installing lights and wireless cameras for added security to ensure the league can continue.

A GoFundMe has also been setup to help replace the snack foods and other items.