Donation jar stolen

By NATHAN LAMB | Milton Independent Staff Writer
mireporter@mac.com

An unhappy Loretta Devino holds up a Relay for Life donation jar similar to the one taken the day of the budget vote.

Assistant Town Clerk Loretta Devino is very enthusiastic about raising money to support the American Cancer Society—but she was equally distraught upon learning that somebody stole a change jar full of donations from her counter window during last week's school budget vote.

“Don't go there,” she said when asked about it, with clear emotion in her voice.

The jar collected a lot of change over the day, and was probably stolen just after the polls closed (7 p.m.) on Tuesday night, said Assistant Town Clerk Paulette LaFond. She estimated the jar was stolen while the town clerks were tabulating the vote results.

“I can't believe someone would do that, but it could happen really quickly,” she said,

The theft was reported to police, who reviewed video footage of the area, said LaFond.

The donations were to benefit the April's Fools Relay for Life team, which LaFond co-founded last year after her sister passed away from lung cancer.

This setback aside, team co-captain Tammy Lutz said things are going well this year, with the team increasing its fundraising goal for the second time in as many weeks—up to $5,000. That's exactly twice what the team's initial goal was, but Lutz was still disappointed about the stolen jar.

“You work so hard and you want to help people,” she said. “Then to have somebody snag that. It's just disappointing.”