TOMBALL, Texas – A Boy Scout troop is learning a tough lesson about doing the right thing. Scout Troop 41 of Tomball discovered Monday night that someone stole their camping trailer sometime over the weekend. It’s usually parked behind Church of the Good Shepherd on East Carrell Street.
Kevin Bissell, the committee chairman, said Scouts were gathering Monday night for their weekly meeting when one of them noticed the large white trailer was missing.
“One of the adults walked in and said the trailer’s gone. So we kinda reached out to some people who may have taken it somewhere and so we came over and noticed all the locks had been cut,” Bissell said.
Bissell estimated the trailer is worth $6,000 to $8,000. It’s the items inside that held the true value. The committee chairman said there were camping stoves, glass lanterns, tarps and tents among the items inside the trailer.
“We’re thinking it’s in the neighborhood of $22,000 for just the equipment inside,” he said.
Boy Scout Nathan Keown is devastated someone would steal a trailer.
“It’s not right. You’re stealing from a bunch of kids, basically,” Keown said.
Keown said the trailer and the supplies inside are vital for them to be able to go on monthly camping trips. Scouts raised money to purchase all the items. Without them, he fears there won’t be a camping outing come August.
“It’s pretty upsetting because I like going camping,” the 14-year-old said.
Gringos Tex Mex and Jimmy Changas got word of the stolen trailer on social media. The companies plan to write a $10,000 check to the troop Wednesday to help replace the trailer and some of the camping supplies.
“We actually don’t know anyone from the troop, but we all have families and kids and when they reached out, it just tugged at our hearts ... these kids and their families and all the hard work they did to raise that money that’s suddenly stolen from them,” said Curtis Koch, an operations manager for the company.
Boy Scout Troop 41 is raising money to make up the rest of the funds.
The Tomball Police Department said it is looking for the trailer. It has Texas plates 586609 and the troop number displayed on both sides.