SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - Leaders of the Illinois Pork Producers Association said employees were shocked Monday morning when they came into work.
"Our staff arrived this morning and noticed our large grill, the pork patrol as we like to call it, was missing from our garage," said IPPA Executive Director Jennifer Tirey said.
Marketing manager for the association, Casey Thiems, said she didn't want to believe someone had stolen it.
"You have questions about like why isn't it there," Thiems said. "Your mind doesn't initially jump to, oh, someone stole it, because you don't want to think the worst of people."
According to Tirey, the grill that weighs thousands of pounds was stolen out of the association's parking lot over the weekend.
"It's not your common backyard BBQ grill," Tirey said. "This weighs thousands of pounds. It had a locked trailer hitch on it, so for someone to have the audacity to take it off our private property is really a sad thing."
Tirey said this grill was crucial to help the association fulfill its mission.
"We've taken it to Chicago. We've taken it to deep southern Illinois. We tailgate with it at (the) U of I," Tirey said. "It's part of our programming. It's part of the way we reach the community."
According to Tirey, this grill was used not only for community projects, but to raise money for the association.
"We're really shocked, because we utilize the grill to essentially feed individuals for free across the state," Tirey said.
Like many other businesses, COVID-19 has impacted the association. Tirey said it must have missed out on a large chunk of its yearly revenue because of the virus.
"We were not able to have the State Fair this year, so that's lost revenue. Our farmers have been hit because restaurants and hotels have closed down," Tirey said. "We had a short time where our supply chain was down, so our farmers are hurting as it is."
According to Tirey, the stolen grill has made already tough times even tougher.
"For us to have someone take this opportunity away from us when we're trying to help promote our local farmers and get more consumers to eat pork, it's just a real tragedy that someone in our community made the decision to do this," Tirey said.
Now the association needs the community's help.
"We're hoping [someone] sees it driving down the road or has some information, so that they can get it back to us," Tirey said. "The license plate, if anyone happens to see the grill or question if it's a part of the Illinois Pork Producers, is 5072JV."
Tirey said there was a black tarp covering the grill, which would hide all of the association's artwork and logos. If anyone has any information on the stolen grill, contact the association at (217)529-3100.
The Link LonkSeptember 29, 2020 at 01:27AM
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Illinois Pork Producers Association asks community to help find stolen grill - WAND
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