My van was stolen on Thanksgiving day. They destroyed the ignition system because they didn’t have a key. They drove it off somewhere and removed all the tools and the catalytic converter. They also took my new deep cycle battery, lots of hardware, the license plates and more. They took some of the struts from my 1V dome that I use at Burning Man. They cut through the heavy-duty hasps and cut out the big puck locks to get into the back where the tools are.

They left it on East 8th street in Oakland, where it was promptly towed by the Oakland Police and impounded. By 6:30 pm on Thanksgiving, my van had been harvested and was being towed to the most expensive parking lot in Oakland.

I reported it as stolen Friday morning when I realized it was missing and found out it had been towed. It took a few days for the police to finish their processing of it, called “Recovery,” after which time I paid what felt like a lot of money to have it released from impound. The city of Oakland waived its own fees and paid for two of the five days it was in the impound. And several people in the OPD and various city offices were unflinchingly kind and helpful. I got the feeling that they have had a lot of practice.

My auto insurance has covered the damage to the van, less a deductible. My homeowner’s insurance covered only $5K of my tools, but they kindly waived the deductible - unexpectedly kind for an insurance agency (Farmers.) As part of my claim, I had to assemble a list of what had been stolen. About $13K of stuff was stolen, but maybe $2K of that I wouldn’t ever bother replacing. I needed about $8K in tools to reboot my business, and I have already purchased most of the tools and materials I need on a credit card. I won't buy the rest until I need them.

This year was financially awful before the theft of my van. There was a lot less work to do this year. Discretionary work and work that can wait a while becomes a lower priority when people are concerned about money, so there was a lot less business this year due to the economy. I did not earn enough money this year to cover my living expenses, taxes and insurance. This theft has eaten a credit card; I'm hoping to pay that off with help from friends to cover what the insurance would not cover.

All contributions will go toward replacing tools and materials. I might receive contributions from outside GoFundMe. I'll end the fundraiser early if I've received enough to cover the loss.

I'm grateful for my friends whether they can help or not.