Kelly’s Gear Was Stolen :(
Donation protected
Yesterday as I was moving into my new apartment in Oakland, CA., two guys in a purple Audi jumped out of their car, smashed my window and grabbed my backpack. There were multiple people around and it was broad daylight. They took off immediately onto the freeway. Inside my backpack was :
- my Canon MKIII w/50mm lens
($4500)
- my personal MacBook Pro
($2000)
- my work MacBook Pro
($2500)
- my Colitis medications
($350)
- my brand new books
($45)
- my sunglasses
($150)
- my makeup bag
($250)
- my journal
($10 but full of important memories and information)
- the backpack itself is ($75)
Also, my passport, my headphones, and all the parking slips from the last month of work I won’t be able to be reimbursed for now ($250)
I’m still remembering things that were inside that backpack and feel so helpless without these items.
That’s $10,130 worth of my life that was stolen from me in 5 seconds. It’s taken me so long to get here and get this gear and I’ve worked freelance for so long in order to get to where I am. It’s the worst feeling knowing these people didn’t know a thing about me and most likely were following me or staking out the place when they realized a new girl was moving in and seized the 10 second opportunity. I’ve been super careful about leaving things in my car in a new city. All it took was wanting to take my cat inside before I started moving boxes in. I feel like they know where I live now and that I’m alone and they can get away with it.
I know there are so many GoFundMe’s for people with illness whose lives depend on donations. I also know people are struggling financially all over the place and I technically don’t have to pay to replace he work laptop. My hard drive was recovered on the side of the road because it had my name and number on it. So not all my work was lost which is a huge relief. However now I’m stuck in a pretty bad place, I’m going to try to get out of my new lease and I need to start from scratch on my gear. I hate asking anyone for help and I was so proud of my recent total independence but I guess that’s how life goes out here.
As the cop so tenderly said to me yesterday after it took 4 hours for them to get to me, ‘Everything happens for a reason.’
- my Canon MKIII w/50mm lens
($4500)
- my personal MacBook Pro
($2000)
- my work MacBook Pro
($2500)
- my Colitis medications
($350)
- my brand new books
($45)
- my sunglasses
($150)
- my makeup bag
($250)
- my journal
($10 but full of important memories and information)
- the backpack itself is ($75)
Also, my passport, my headphones, and all the parking slips from the last month of work I won’t be able to be reimbursed for now ($250)
I’m still remembering things that were inside that backpack and feel so helpless without these items.
That’s $10,130 worth of my life that was stolen from me in 5 seconds. It’s taken me so long to get here and get this gear and I’ve worked freelance for so long in order to get to where I am. It’s the worst feeling knowing these people didn’t know a thing about me and most likely were following me or staking out the place when they realized a new girl was moving in and seized the 10 second opportunity. I’ve been super careful about leaving things in my car in a new city. All it took was wanting to take my cat inside before I started moving boxes in. I feel like they know where I live now and that I’m alone and they can get away with it.
I know there are so many GoFundMe’s for people with illness whose lives depend on donations. I also know people are struggling financially all over the place and I technically don’t have to pay to replace he work laptop. My hard drive was recovered on the side of the road because it had my name and number on it. So not all my work was lost which is a huge relief. However now I’m stuck in a pretty bad place, I’m going to try to get out of my new lease and I need to start from scratch on my gear. I hate asking anyone for help and I was so proud of my recent total independence but I guess that’s how life goes out here.
As the cop so tenderly said to me yesterday after it took 4 hours for them to get to me, ‘Everything happens for a reason.’
Organizer
Kelly Victoria
Organizer
Oakland, CA
