Meanest Thief Steals Truck, Gear for Hippety Heart’s Gym

The Hippety Heart’s Gym, a Hawthorne Recreation Department program that teaches children motor skills and health awareness, has such a small budget that it shares equipment with a similar privately run program in Hermosa Beach.

Last Monday night, after about 60 toddlers in three classes at the Hawthorne Memorial Center had thrown baseballs at a pitch-back net, seesawed on a teeter-totter, rolled on a scooter board and hung from a small horizontal bar, the equipment was loaded into a truck for delivery to the Hermosa Beach program the next morning.

Overnight, the truck--and equipment--were stolen from its parking place on Hermosa Avenue in Hermosa Beach.

“I’m going to have to face the kids Monday night without any equipment,” said Rianah Powers, who directs the Hawthorne program. “I guess we’re just going to have to be very creative.”

Powers said the city does not have any money to replace the $1,000 worth of equipment, some of which she paid for herself.

The program’s budget just covers the part-time employees’ salaries.

Can’t Afford New Equipment

“I certainly cannot afford to buy any new equipment,” said Powers, who also works part time as a physical education instructor at El Camino College during the school year.

“And I don’t know what kind of fund-raiser I would have with preschoolers.”

Hermosa Beach Police Detective Pat Watters said there is very little that police can do about stolen vehicles except to be on the lookout for them.

One advantage in this case may be that the truck is distinctive. The 1972 Chevrolet LUV truck is royal blue and has a rainbow painted on the roof of the cab. It has a white camper shell with curtains on the windows.

Tom Lambert, the owner of the truck, said he had been parking it in the same area for nearly two years without incident. Lambert, who plays his guitar for the toddlers in both the Hawthorne and Hermosa Beach programs, had a banjo, two microphones, music stands and tools in the truck when it was stolen.

“I don’t know why someone would steal the truck for the equipment,” he said. “Maybe someone was looking for parts for another ’72 LUV truck.”

Teri Thompson, who runs the Hippety Heart’s Gym in Hermosa Beach and other adult and child exercise programs in San Pedro and Manhattan Beach, taught one preschool class last week without the equipment.

“I just had to improvise,” she said.

Not Available

Thompson said she will be able to borrow some equipment from another instructor for future classes, but that equipment will not be available for the Hawthorne program because it is needed elsewhere.

Powers said she hopes the equipment can be found because it is of little use to the thieves.

“I don’t know how they are going to hock preschool gym equipment,” she said.

Meanwhile, Powers hopes that someone with gym equipment that their children have outgrown will donate it to the program through the Hawthorne Recreation Department.

“Any large toys, bean-bag chairs or a small slide would help,” she said.

“Anything the children can have fun with while developing their muscles.”

Powers said the name of the gym was adopted to emphasize the importance of developing the heart physically and emotionally.

“We teach the children that the heart is the most important muscle,” she said. “That it is the muscle of love.

“Programs like this are needed to stimulate positive experiences for the children. We start from Day One to instill an awareness of what is needed to keep their muscles strong.”

Broken hearts, she said, are not part of the program.