By Sarah Schwager
DOZENS of Easter eggs donated by the community to Pakenham adult learning centre Living and Learning in Cardinia (LLINC) were stolen last week.
The eggs were to be part of an Easter raffle to raise much needed funds for the centre.
LLINC coordinator Judith Brown said staff worked hard to keep the centre running and were shattered by the theft.
“It was so disappointing for them to come in and find all their hard work ruined,” she said.
The Easter eggs were stolen from the Henry Street centre last Wednesday between 6.30pm and 8.30pm while there was a class in another room.
Pakenham police said thieves helped themselves to the eggs, which had been on display in a glass cabinet.
But Ms Brown said despite the setback the raffle would go ahead.
She said LLINC would replace the chocolate eggs, although staff would be limited in how many eggs they could gather.
“The more we get the more raffle opportunities we have,” she said.
The money raised at the raffle was to go towards a heating and cooling system at the centre.
But Ms Brown said now the work was now in doubt as the centre would not be able to raise enough to apply for a Cardinia Shire Capital Works Grant, which works on a dollar for dollar basis.
“We are a neighbourhood house and we do have limited funding,” she said.
“We don’t have any money left over at the end of each year so we rely on our fundraising efforts and this raffle was part of our fundraising.”
Recent fundraising efforts have helped refit the basketball stadium, put ventilation at the top of the building, make the children’s playground useable, and install a glass display cabinet for community art work.
Ms Brown said LLINC’s parttime staff worked extremely hard to make the centre available 52 weeks a year, with programs run seven days a week, morning, noon and night, for 40 of those weeks.
“The staff have really worked hard to become efficient enough to enable people to use the centre,” she said.
She said over the last three years the number of people attending LLINC had risen from 500 to 1100 people a week.
For more information or to donate to the centre, contact LLINC on 5941 2389.
Anyone with information about the theft is encouraged to call Pakenham police on 5941 1033.