HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A copper theft that netted a crook roughly $25 has left the Huntington Area Food Bank with more than $40,000 in damages.

"We're starting to get in panic mode," says Brooke Ash, the assistant director at the Huntington Area Food Bank. "There's devastation and the worry. We lost 7,000 pounds of food; that's enough to feed almost 500 families."

The vandalism happened last week. On Wednesday, the Huntington Young Professionals Committee donated $2,500 to help make necessary repairs. But that's far from the money needed to get two units up and running again.

The fear is the food bank may now have to turn away perishable donations because they won't have a place to store them because a few of the freezers aren't working. If that happens, it could snowball
and cause problems with food pantries it services in 17 counties.

"We depend on them for our cheese, our meats, that kind of thing," says Sherry Perry who helps run the ECCHO Food Pantry in Milton, W.Va. "If the food bank doesn't have a freezer to stock its supplies ... I have an empty freezer."

The food bank is looking for more donations and grant money to help make the necessary repairs. It's a clearing house that helps
feed 91,000 families in our region who need help putting food on the table.