This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Each year, the Assistance League of Salt Lake City provides clothing and toiletries to more than 250 sexual assault victims who have to leave their own clothes as evidence after having a medical exam at a hospital.
But the nonprofit group is now short about 30 of their Assault Survivor Kits — valued at $600 — which were stolen late last week from an Assistance League volunteer's car.
A thief or thieves broke into the locked vehicle, which was parked in a carport in Murray, either late Thursday or early Friday. The kits were to be delivered the next day to the Rape Recovery Center in Salt Lake City.
"The tragedy is that there are people who need these things and aren't going to get them," Barbara Engen, Assistance League communications vice president, said Tuesday.
Members of the league's Consociates Auxiliary assemble the kits and the Rape Recovery Center's hospital response team brings them to emergency rooms so survivors of sexual assault can go home in clean clothes.
These kits — new pants, a T-shirt, underwear and personal hygiene products in clear plastic bags with an Assistance League sticker on them — are designed to give victims comfort and dignity. They are funded by the Assistance League through donations and proceeds from the organization's Thrift on 33rd, a second-hand store at 2090 E. 3300 South.
Holly Mullen, director of the Rape Recovery Center, said the Assistance League provides a valuable service. She added the number of calls the hospital response team receives has gone up this year.
From Jan. 1 to Sept. 1, 2014, team members responded to 256 cases; so far this year, they have gotten 340 calls, according to Mullen.
Anyone with information about the theft is asked to call Murray police at 801-840-4000.
To help out the Assistance League, visit http://www.alslc.org/contribute.
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC