OAKLAND -- The East Oakland Boxing Association, which has provided free after-school and summer programs for young people for 25 years, had much of its equipment stolen in a weekend burglary, a harsh blow to an organization that has struggled to keep its doors open in recent years.
Boxing equipment, 10 laptop computers, a TV and DVD player, Wi-Fi equipment and even water bottles being sold to raise money for the cash-strapped club were stolen. The theft occurred sometime between Saturday evening and Monday morning, said association Executive Director Sarah Chavez.
"We were an organization that had been struggling, and could finally breathe a little bit and then this happened," Chavez said.
Oakland police spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson said police were on scene for several hours Monday and will be back at the property at 98th Avenue and Pearmain Street for further investigation Tuesday.
"(The burglary) was significant enough that we are sending a (crime scene) technician out," Watson said.
Staff members arrived at the facility around 12:30 p.m. Monday and discovered the place had been burglarized. No arrests have been made, Watson said.
"We need computers to function on a daily basis," Chavez said. "They stripped all of our technology, down to kids' laptops."
The burglary comes just a few months after Chavez, who took over in January, said the nonprofit was in jeopardy of closing if money wasn't found. Money was raised through private donations, including gifts of $125,000, and the group was "back on their feet" before the weekend burglary, she said.
Still, the association had a music show fundraiser scheduled for June 12 at Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland.
That show is now "more important than ever," she said.
Police and club leaders hope the community will now come to the aid of an organization that has helped so many.
Former Golden Gloves champion Stanley Garcia opened the association in 1987 in the heart of East Oakland because he believed that boxing had taught him valuable life skills and saved him from the violent streets. He saw it as a way to reach at-risk youngsters.
For more than two decades, he mentored young people between 5 and 20 years old in boxing through the association's SmartMoves program. The program later expanded to teach job skills, water conservation, tree planting, harvesting vegetables and cooking. The organization distributes free food to 200 families in need every month.
More than 30,000 youths have gone through the SmartMoves boxing program since the gym opened in 1987 and 100 students plan to go through the summer program, which begins June 25.
After Monday's theft, students were directed to stay home, but the program will be up and running again Tuesday.
Chavez said the organization is doing everything it can to keep the crime from impacting the youngsters.
"Where are the kids going to go if we are closed?" she said. "We don't want anything to happen to them."
The burglars apparently scaled a fence and broke a window to get inside the building, which did not have an alarm, Chavez said. Also stolen were two printers, 40 boxing hand-wraps, punching mitts, jump ropes, a laminating machine, a Nintendo Wii, a guitar and an amplifier.
The club has hit on hard times before, including the 2009 murder of 16-year-old Phillip Wright, a longtime intern, who was shot and killed when he went to answer a knock at the door of his East Oakland home, police said.
To help the organization, go to www.eoba.org/contact.html/.