Vandals trash Madera County church building used for after-school program

MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Vandals did more than cause damage to a Madera County portable classroom earlier this week-they left behind a bizarre scene.

Around 40 elementary school students use the portable that was vandalized at Yosemite Lakes Community Church for after school programs.

"Kinda sad, who would do that to a church and where kids come?" said student Autumn Pearson

A TV was smashed, a toaster melted in the microwave, and the vandals made off with forty dollars in play change, plus some Lego's.

"It was pretty chaotic," said Jenny Clark, the director of school age programs at the church. "The glass was kicked in from the window and it was all over the floor."

A foosball table was stained with Clorox, while a foosball table was damaged by food and milk stains.

"It looked like someone went ahead and used some of our snacks and cooked it for themselves and sat down and ate that," Clark said.

Families of students are providing new items to make up for what was lost. Trinity Adler is giving up her dollhouse for the common good.

"I thought it was really sad in how someone would do that and Ms. Jenny she wanted us to pray for that person," said Adler.

"I couldn't be prouder right now, my daughters have just melted my heart," said Trinity's mother, Lindsay Adler.

Evan Tossetti and his sister Chloe say they'll donate their old game console they don't use anymore.

"To see someone do that, it's just, or to see the effects of someone do that, it's just sad," said Tossetti. "It really is."

But Tossetti says this has turned from a sad story to a happy one as the donations pour in and the class gets everything back to order.

The Madera County Sheriff's Office is investigating the vandalism. They say physical evidence was processed at the scene.

"(We're) just kind of waiting for the results of that to come in and hoping that someone in the community notices somebody paying with a lot of quarters or has information," Clark said.

The church board will soon discuss additional security measures for the church. A reward of $1,000 for anyone with information with the crime has been supplied by an anonymous donor.