Orlando, Fla. — The break-in was in the middle of the night.
Jenny Hackney, owner of Gratitude Coffee in College Park, told News 96.5 WDBO how her cafe was burglarized and trashed last month.
“The first night of the curfew, they came in the back door. I had a tray of pastries in my left hand, [and] as I unlocked the door, I saw just a mess everywhere,” said Hackney.
Hackney says they caught the man on a camera from another business a couple of doors down.
It was a man who had been in her shop a week before.
“He was in my shop, he was acting a little erratic and I had never seen him before. I gave him a free cup of coffee and he went to sit down and I stopped him and I said no one can stay it’s only takeout. He thought I was being critical of his appearance. I wasn’t. It was because of the virus,” said Hackney.
Her most significant loss from the burglary was something of sentimental value.
“But the saddest thing was he took my first-generation iPad. It’s got pictures of my son’s wedding and pictures of my beloved dogs that died. And all kinds of stuff that means something.”
When Hackney posted an update on Instagram saying her shop would be closed for the day, the community quickly came to her rescue. She received text messages, phone calls and nearly twenty people came out to help clean up!
“Somebody came from The Glass Knife—I’d never met them before—he was the Director of Operations, and he gave me five big bags of coffee and four gallons of milk because they saw my post online and they wanted to support me,” said Hackney.
Rob Chase, the owner of Digress Wine, let her borrow his dehumidifier.
“I just happened to be driving by and I noticed her outside, which was odd. I checked in and the poor place was just trashed. She’s been a huge component of my success here, with caffeination. We have a great little community down here. Before we knew it, there were probably a dozen people out here helping,” said Chase.
“Everybody just wrapped me up with love and support—it was nice,” Hackney said with a smile.
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