Thieves steal tools from Habitat for Humanity site in Ames

By Todd Magel

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    AMES, Iowa (KCCI) — Thieves stole thousands of dollars worth of tools from Habitat for Humanity’s construction site in Ames last night, halting their work on affordable homes.

“This is our Habitat trailer,” said Habitat for Humanity construction manager Curt Samson.

Curt Samson got the surprise of his life early Monday morning.

“Then I started looking around, and I said we’ve been robbed,” Samson said.

Someone cut the lock on his equipment trailer overnight and stole thousands of dollars worth of tools.

“A Sawzall, a full two-drawer tool box,” Samson listed as he gave us a tour of the trailer.

“We didn’t expect that to happen. Somebody, you know, stealing tools right from our trailer and cut the lock. So it was pretty shocking to us,” said Dan Nutini, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Central Iowa.

Crews are building affordable homes and need the tools to finish the project. Work came to a halt Monday. Word got out on social media and offers for replacement tools came pouring in.

“We’ve had some folks saying, ‘Hey, well, I still need some tools. You guys let us help you.’ So, it’s kind of bringing out the best in folks as well,” Nutini said.

“We’ve also got serial numbers on a lot of these tools. So if they do find them, they can say, yeah, we know who those belong to,” Samson said.

If you have more information, you can call Ames police. And what would Nutini like to say to the thieves?

“I just say we’d like our tools back. You know, we’re just trying to do good in our community and support our community to build affordable housing. So, we just want our tools back,” Nutini said.

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