The Tulsa area non-profit organization’s Retail Garden center on Elm Street in Broken Arrow was broken into sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning.
Thieves stole computer equipment but were unable to get into the cash register.
“Our clients are individuals with developmental disabilities who are faced with many challenges so it pains us to think that someone would steal from them,” said A New Leaf CEO Mary Ogle. “It was really disappointing for us to think that, you know, somebody in the community would rob a non-profit. It just doesn’t even make sense to us.”
Ogle said it was hard breaking the news to the individuals who work there, but the right thing to do, since the developmentally disabled community is already exluded from so much within our society.
Evidence of the robbery was discovered Saturday morning.
"They weren’t as much hurt as they were mad," Ogle said. "This is their work. This is what they do for a living.”
A New Leaf, Inc. provides disabled people with life skills, marketable job training through horticultural therapy, community-based vocational placement, and residential services to increase independence.
Ogle said the best way to show your support for A New Leaf is to buy your plants and other gardening needs from their organization.
More information here.