Thousands of dollars in concession equipment lit on fire and destroyed. The New Yorktown Patriots, a youth football and cheerleading league, took a major hit over the weekend.
“This was a cooler, basically a thermos,” says Alan Healy, a coach for the league. “It's not a thermos anymore. It's just hard to take in.”
A container with cheerleading equipment and cooking appliances that took years to buy is now gone. Deputies are investigating it as arson.
"It hurts because that's all of our concession stuff and all our money just went down the drain," says 9-year-old Kai Healy, who has played on the league for five seasons.
"That means it's just going to be hard for us to raise money if we don't have a concession stand," he says.
Coach Healy says concession sales are how the league pays for referees at games.
"Sometimes I think people do stuff and don't think of the repercussions or who it affects but it's going to affect a lot of the kids," he says.
About 200 kids play in the league and for many of them Healy says, it's their only outlet outside of school.
"I would ask them why they did it and was it amusing because it isn't amusing to the league,” Kai says. “You just put thousands of dollars down the drain."
If you have any information on this arson, you can take action against crime and call the CrimeLine at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.
With no insurance on the items destroyed, Healy is hoping for donations. He says the league’s websitehas a link with instructions on how to give money or concessions equipment.
