Caught on Camera: Thieves helped themselves to Stamp Out Hunger food drive donations

PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- It's a video that is infuriating people around Arizona, as people were stealing food left out for collection as part of the "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive that was held on Saturday.

During the food drive, people would put out bags of food for Valley food banks, and their postal carriers would pick them up during their Saturday routes. Some thieves, however, beat the postal workers to the food.

Ericka Sanchez was picking up a food box from Saint Mary's for an elderly woman she cares for. The woman is on a fixed income, and the box helped immensely. The video of someone stealing from the Stamp Out Hunger food drive made her angry.

"'Cause it's not right," said Sanchez. "There's people there who are hungry."

St. Mary's Food Bank expects more than 300,000lbs (~136,077.7kg) of food to be collected in this food drive, but still, it is disheartening that someone is stealing food.

"If you have a problem and you need food and you're in a desperate situation, don't take food marked for somebody else. Come to the Food Bank. We'll give you a grocery cart of food with a smile on our face," said Jerry Brown with St. Mary's Food Bank. "That's what we do everyday, and that's where the food taken on Saturday was bound for: families who need it."

Dave Hanes, whose camera captured the theft, said he and several neighbors discovered video on their devices of the same truck taking bags from their driveways, near 43rd Avenue and Cactus in Phoenix.

"Once we saw it, we felt so bad," said Hanes, in a phone interview. "It's a really smashed up silver or 4Runner or Nissan Xterra. The front of it has an aftermarket grille."

Hanes said he and his family purposefully went shopping for the food drive, and spent $120 on the bag of food to donate. Hanes said in future drives, his family will hand it to the mail carrier, or donate it directly at St. Mary's Food Bank.