Donor list gone with computer

They broke in by tossing a cinder block through a backdoor window.

Just as an alarm sounded, the unknown number of thieves walked past other expensive items inside the Eagle Harbor Boys Ranch office early Tuesday and grabbed a computer that was more valuable to its owner than it would be to them.

When a staff member arrived minutes later, the thieves already were gone.

Danny Gilbert, founder and executive director of the nonprofit organization, said the stolen desktop computer contained nearly 2,000 names of potential and past donors the group relies on to fund about 30 percent of its annual operations.

The computer doesn't hold credit card numbers or any other information thieves could use, he said, but it does list names and addresses of people who help keep the boys camp running.

"What we lost is information that has taken us years to build," Gilbert said. "It's crucial to us so that we're able to get the word out to people when we have needs."

Eagle Harbor provides a home for 16 children between the ages of 6 and 21 who have been neglected, abused or orphaned. It's categorized as a low-management school, which means it basically provides foster care for kids whose parents had more problems than the kids.

"Basically, our kids are these kids who had bad parents," Gilbert said. "We had a child here who at 13 years old was locked in a dog kennel and fed out of a bowl."

The ranch is located on 81 acres of land near the New Hope community in rural Berkeley County. Nearly half of the land is pasture for horses and there's also a pond for the boys to swim in.

The boys are divided into two houses of eight. Each house is run by a married couple that treat the children like their own, Gilbert said.

"It's good to have someone who's responsible for them," he said.

Once the children reach a certain age, it's common for them to have jobs and cars just like any other child.

Gilbert said it is the only home of its kind in the Lowcountry and there's a need for more. He said they had to turn away more than 250 children over the last four years.

They hope to build a ranch for girls in the future, but donations will play a major role in how quickly that happens, he said.

"There's a great need for what we're doing and there's real need for us to expand, and part of our expansion is based on our donor list," he said. "We'll rebuild our donor list, but it will take a while."

Gilbert said they should have had the donor information backed up. The closest thing they have to a list of donors is a 3-year-old list with fewer names.

He asked that anyone who might have been omitted from the list or would like to be on the list to contact the organization as soon as possible.

Its annual golf tournament, the group's biggest fundraiser of the year, is scheduled for August. Without a list of donors to notify, the numbers could be lower than years past.

"We hate that it's come to this," Gilbert said. "Some people are probably going to fall through the cracks."

Reach Andy Paras at 937-5589 or aparas@postandcourier.com.