Residents in the small community of Embrun, 40 kilometres southeast of Ottawa, say they're shocked by the overnight robbery of the food bank they use.

Roxanne Myre said it's sad that someone had to resort to breaking into Embrun's food bank. (CBC)

Sometime between 10 p.m. Monday and 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, someone drove a vehicle through one of the rear doors at the Good Neighbours Food Bank on Bay Street.

Food worth about $2,000 was taken from the building, along with the vaccuum cleaner, pens and pencils and other miscellaneous equipment. It will also take about $2,000 to repair the damage done by the vehicle that smashed through the rear door.

On Thursday, residents continued to drop by the food bank to donate food, and others, to pick some up.

'It's horrible'

Roxanne Myre, a single mother, said it's sad someone had to resort to breaking in.

"Everybody's struggling and sometimes you just need that extra help … It's hard, these days," Myre said. "It makes a big difference, being a single mom and raising kids, you need that sometimes."

Carol Wells said she was shocked.

"I think it's awful that somebody would do that," Wells said. "This is where you come when you need something and they've been here for a long time. So for somebody to do that, I think it's just horrible. It's horrible.

"The people who come here, they come here because they have to. For people to come and take things out of their mouths, I think is horrible."

Jonathan Naf, who runs a community supported argriculture farm in the area, delivers produce to the food bank once a week during the growing season. (CBC)

Jonathan Raf, who runs a community-supported farm in the area, dropped off organic produce at the food bank on Thursday. He said he delivers produce there once a week during the growing season.

"Really? What?" he said after learning of the robbery. "That's shocking. Who would do something like that? I can't imagine why anybody would want to do something like that to the food bank."

Ontario Provincial Police investigating

Ontario Provincial Police, whose Embrun detachment office sits about 100 metres away from the food bank, are investigating.

The food bank property owner, Maurice Leimieux, said he's surprised the thief managed to rob the food bank within sight of the detachment.

He said the food bank has boosted security to prevent a robbery from happening again.

"We'll be safer," he said.