A collection barrel maintained by the Concern for Neighbors Food Bank in Mountlake Terrace and all its contents of donated food was stolen sometime last weekend from its site outside the QFC store in the Cedar Plaza shopping center.

Anne Peterson, Executive Director of the food bank, said the organization replaced the collection barrel with another early on Monday.

The collection barrel sits outside the store next to a vending machine and garbage receptacle between QFC and the neighboring Bartells Drug Store. Food bank officials are aware that theft of donated food has happened there before, “but not everything in the barrel,” Peterson said.

Peterson was told by a QFC employee that the stolen collection barrel was full of donated food on Saturday.

Food donations from the collection barrel usually are done on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, Peterson said. “We receive a lot of food from people shopping at QFC as we probably bring back a full barrel every time we check it,” she added.

Mountlake Terrace Police Commander Doug Hansen said there is no investigation at this time concerning the theft, but that patrol officers will be instructed to keep an eye on the barrel in the future.

While the Concern for Neighbors Food Bank functions to help needy families and individuals in the area, “we don’t expect people to take food out of the barrel,” Peterson noted. “If they are in need, they should come to the food bank as they will get more food than what they take out of the barrel.”

The collection barrel is one of four that the food bank maintains in the area. In addition to outside the QFC store, collection barrels are located at the Mountlake Terrace Library, the Mountlake Terrace Pavilion and at Brier City Hall.

The Concern for Neighbors Food Bank operates out of space provided by the Terrace View Presbyterian Church at 4700-228^th Street SW.

– By Doug Petrowski