Police search for stolen trailer

HOPE needs help.

Two trailers that were on the HOPE Food and Clothing Ministry property in Aubrey, a concession trailer and a smaller one the organization had borrowed, were stolen from the organization’s property sometime after Monday afternoon.

“I told the police officer yesterday to just look where the lightning strikes,” HOPE director Teri Farmer said. “I said, ‘You cannot mess with God’s ministry.’”

The smaller trailer was recovered by the Texas Department of Public Safety on Wednesday morning, Aubrey Police Department Chief Charles Kreidler said, in Bellevue, which is near Wichita Falls in Clay County.

“Our investigation led us to a location in Denton where there were other stolen trailers,” he said.

The person stopped by DPS had purchased the trailer in Denton, Kreidler said.

“The man who had the trailer is cooperating with us, and we believe that he did not know that it was stolen,” he said.

APD is working with the Denton Police Department to investigate that discovery that was made as a result of the DPS stop.

“It’s a great cooperative effort to solve numerous crimes, it looks like,” Kreidler said.

Farmer was grateful to the APD and the other agencies for their response to the situation, and she hopes more good can come of it.

“It was amazing how they have just taken this seriously,” she said. “HOPE is a part of the community, and it’s like they have taken it as their own.”

The community’s support has also meant a lot to Farmer.

“Every time something bad happens, you see good in people, and we are seeing that,” she said.

She was also grateful the borrowed trailer had been recovered.

“Concession stand, we’ll work on tables, we’ll put a tent up, whatever, but, oh my Lord, we do not have the money to pay somebody back on the little trailer,” Farmer said.

Summertime is usually dry donation-wise, Farmer said, so the group usually uses the concession trailer that was stolen to go to events and sell items, with the proceeds from those sales going toward food and other items for those in need.

“It was old and it needed work, but it had all of our stuff in it and was set up,” she said. “… There’s no way we could replace it. We couldn’t afford to replace it.”

The concession trailer contained machines for making popcorn, snow cones and cotton candy as well as utensils and other supplies. There were also bikes that had been donated during the pandemic inside the trailer.

She is confident that the group will continue to help people in the Aubrey area, which is and has been Farmer’s focus since 2002.

After all, that’s what inspired the group’s name: Helping Other People Everyday.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has hampered the way the organization has been able to interact with the people it serves, it has continued to stay open on the third Saturday of each month for drive-thru service from 9-11 a.m.

Other than the money it makes through selling concessions, HOPE depends on donations and fundraisers.

To donate to help HOPE recoup the money, visit facebook.com/donate/265712887880404.