PINE BLUFF, Ark. — A non-profit organization that works with disabled veterans is now in need of some help of its own.
Team River Runner turns water sports into therapy, but they've been having a hard time doing that after a group of thieves stole some of their equipment.
"People that did this don't know what they've done," said Marlene Davis-Lilly, team River Runner Central Arkansas Chapter Coordinator.
Emotions have been running high for her as she has worked to figure out who broke into her trailer and took the kayaks, lifejackets, and other equipment that was stored inside.
All of the things that were stolen are tools used in therapy for blind and disabled veterans like herself.
"It just makes my heart heavy, it really does," Davis-Lilly explained.
She and her husband left for a trip out of state on January 14 and shortly after they left, she discovered that someone was on her property.
"A few days later, someone was on our camera again walking in our yard," she added.
She keeps the Team River Runner trailer locked in her backyard, full of equipment.
When she came back the following weekend, she found the lock broken with the doors wide open.
"We had about six kayaks missing, whole containers full of the equipment that we use, our helmets, our skirts, the life vests that we wear they were all gone," she said.
They also damaged her fence.
"In order to do that they had to have someone helping them, cause there's no way one person just grabbed six kayaks," she described.
Now that they're down to 12 kayaks instead of 18, she said they can't make it to their Memphis Kayak event in April.
"We need our boats. We need our stuff back so that we can do that," Davis-Lilly said.
In the meantime, she's set up a fishing event for the veterans as a backup because she knows how important time on the water is.
"When I first got into this, I was in a very dark place. And someone asked me to do this event and I did go and it actually like a light bulb went off for me that this is something that feels good to me," she explained.
She said being blind and living with chronic pain and PTSD does present its challenges, but she's not allowing it, or a group of thieves, to hold her back from the things she loves.
"We need something that's good for us and it's not always medicine," she said.
Davis-Lilly did file a report with the Pine Bluff Police Department, and a spokesperson with the department told us that there's no suspect information at this time.
If you want to help the organization replace its equipment, you can reach out to them by clicking here.
