Capt. Anna Hawkins started out her Monday early, leaving home and heading out to the country to pick up donations for the Salvation Army, which she helps run on St. Thomas.
Returning downtown around 7:15 a.m., she was shocked to see that the nonprofit’s thrift store and the sidewalk in front, along with the gates to the Salvation Army chapel had been defaced with white paint, bearing the tag "KKK."
"Why? That’s all I could when I saw that – why?" Hawkins later told the Source.
Right now, no one is certain who defaced the building, but Hawkins said Monday’s incident capped off nearly two months of public disturbances caused by a small group of individuals recently banned from the Salvation Army soup kitchen. The group has been targeting the three people in charge of the organization, staging verbal and even physical assaults.
"Our soup kitchen is not being federally funded at this point in time, not since December, so we are depending on the public and private donations and have had to cut back on food portions," Hawkins explained.
"We still serve nutritious meals, but some individuals did not like the idea of that so they decided to verbally start threatening us, becoming very abusive with foul langage – I was even physically assaulted."
According to Salvation Army’s Regional Coordinator Capt. Valerie Hazeldine, the situation escalated to the point where a security guard was hired for the soup kitchen to make sure none of the patrons got injured.
"It was every day, Monday through Friday when we serve meals and they also come on Sundays," Hazeldine said.
Hawkins said the police were called when the graffiti was discovered, but the response was not favorable. Officers said they would file a report, but expected, since the incident was classified as a misdemeanor, that "nothing much" could be done.
Hazeldine said the cans of white paint used to tag the buildings, which were still nearby, were also turned over in hopes that forensics could extract fingerprints but officers said that Salvation Army officials would just have to keep checking with the Attorney General’s Office to see if any charges would be filed.
While there is no clear motive for the vandalism, the "KKK" tag on the building could be an indication that the attack was racially motivated, Hawking and Hazeldine said. Both women have also gotten flak from a small group of individuals who appear to be upset that the soup kitchen is being run by a woman.
But as the Salvation Army waits for answers from police, Hazeldine and Hawkins said there is still a silver lining. Ever since the organization lost its federal funding last December – like many other non-profits suffering from budget cuts – local community members have stepped up, increasing their donations and volunteer hours.
"The community here on St. Thomas has been absolutely fabulous," Hawkins said. "They have seen the Salvation Army come back to life and they want to be a part of it – volunteers actually painted my thrift store that was defaced this morning."
Hawkins added that the incident will not stop the Salvation Army’s operations.
"We serve five days a week, upwards of 100 meals to those who need it, and most of those people – except for this very small group – are genuinely in need, so we will keep doing it for as long as we can," she said.