SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
John Westergreen hopes the van he used to deliver charitable goods might soon be replaced since it was broken into and burned about two weeks ago, thanks to an online fundraising campaign started by his daughter.

Vandals broke into and burned the interior of John Westergreen's trusty green van, which the semi-retired St. Vincent De Paul Society volunteer used to deliver used furniture to needy homes around the city. His daughter has raised $1,500 so far - using a crowd-funding website - to help pay for a replacement. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo

The 57-year-old works for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and is the driving force behind Garage Boys, which delivers used furniture to needy homes around the city. He said when he found his beloved GMC Safari burnt out in his driveway he felt hurt because he knew he wouldn't be able to carry on his duties as a charity giver.

"Not only do they hurt me but they hurt all the people that I help," Westergreen told News/North last week, sitting on a couch in his living room. "So to solve that I think my daughter has an interesting idea to have crowd-funding to come along and help. It means furniture will get hauled, food will get delivered, clothes will be found."

Anneka Westergreen said when she posted the story of the fate of her father's van to a social media site, a friend recommended she try a crowd-funding campaign to buy him a new van.

"He's recently lost his job, and has been through cancer and had a lot of challenges lately," she said. "His independence through his vehicle was one of the last things he had left, and someone said 'you should set up this fundraiser' and so we did."

She said she used a crowd-funding site called Indiegogo and launched the campaign a little more than a week ago. Since then, donors have contributed $1,500 toward a new van for her father.

"It's very inspiring," she said. "I'd love to be able to get him a vehicle that's in as good condition as the one he had."

Westergreen said he found his van in a sad state. Everything was taken out of the vehicle console, piled up and lit on fire. Now the windows are black and the whole vehicle smells of smoke. But the green paint still looks new.

"It's not much of a chance that I will get an opportunity to find another one just like it," he said.

In addition to his work as a charity driver, Westergreen ­ who said he used to work for the NWT power corporation as an electrical automation engineer ­ said he runs a boarding house out of his home for homeless people. He usually has five people living in his home with him, he said. He said the van wasn't locked on the night it was torched, and said he suspects someone broke into it looking for coins since it was broken into about two months ago for that purpose. He said he's hopeful the fundraiser works, since recent plumbing repairs he made to his home have left him short of cash.

"When you run a boarding house you have to think of your home first," he said. "So all of this (charity driving) stops because it was all about my vehicle. All of a sudden I'm not available."

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