AEGiS-Miami Herald: HIV/AIDS center is dealt a cruel blow: A five-gallon container with up to $1,000 in coins and $1 notes is stolen from a facility that helps AIDS patients and their families

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

HIV/AIDS center is dealt a cruel blow: A five-gallon container with up to $1,000 in coins and $1 notes is stolen from a facility that helps AIDS patients and their families

Miami Herald - Sunday, October 05, 2003
Carli Teproff, cteproff@herald.com

For five months, a five-gallon water jug in the waiting room of a nonprofit AIDS services organization in North Miami has been slowly filling with change and dollar bills donated by clients, churches, schools and businesses.

The jug was part of the Center for Positive Connections' "Pennies from Heaven" campaign, but this week the effort went sour when someone stole the jug, which the center's director said held between $500 and $1,000.

Sheri Kaplan, executive director and founder of Positive Connections, figures the jug and its contents were stolen sometime between when the office was closed Monday night and reopened Tuesday morning. That's when it was discovered that the front door had been forced open and several items inside knocked over, according to a police report filed Tuesday morning.

At the time, no one knew the money was missing. "All we noticed missing was an office chair," Kaplan said.

In a meeting Tuesday night a board member asked about the jar.

Kaplan checked and realized it was also missing.

"Then it all made sense," Kaplan said. "They must have used the chair to wheel out the jar."

Kaplan called police Thursday to amend the report.

"It had been there for so long it was like a permanent fixture," Kaplan said, explaining how the jar's absence went unnoticed. "When we finally realized it [had been stolen], we were all stunned."

The Center for Positive Connections, at 12570 NE Seventh Ave., gives educational, emotional and social support to over 800 people with HIV and AIDS, Kaplan said.

A new Pennies From Heaven drive is on. Of the theft, Kaplan said, "I believe in karma. I'll let God handle it."

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