MARYSVILLE — On the morning of July 28, Dell Deierling arrived at the Marysville Community Food Bank to find that supplies had been stolen from its storage shed.

On the morning of Aug. 8, Deierling arrived at the food bank to find a message from the local Home Depot on his phone.

Quanah Blaine, manager of the Quil Ceda Village Home Depot, had called Deierling, director of the Marysville Community Food Bank, offering to replace the lawnmower, leaf-blower and two cans of gasoline that were stolen from the food bank’s storage shed, which a neighbor reported was open on July 27.

“Quanah told me to come on by that same day,” Deierling said. “It was like a shopping spree. I got a really nice Honda lawnmower, Toro leaf-blower and two new containers for gasoline, plus a better, more durable, more secure door hasp and lock, to replace the padlock that went missing from our door.”

Debra Dunn, District 317 HR manager for Home Depot, emailed Blaine and District Manager Doug Molder as soon as she’d learned of the theft from the news during the weekend of Aug. 5. Within minutes, Blaine replied to Dunn’s email to let her know that he’d left a message for Deierling at the food bank.

“They also talked to Dell about helping with another project for the food bank in the near future,” Dunn said. “Timing in life is everything.”

“They went beyond just replacing our stuff, to making sure it would stay around,” Deierling said of the new titanium lock, as well as the equipment he received to improve the storage shed. “Between that and all the other calls we’ve gotten, from people who have wanted to help us out, this community is a fine demonstration that the good in this world outweighs the bad.”

“We don’t often toot our own horn, because doing the right thing is just part of our values,” Dunn said. “However, this was in my district, and this store responded with such immediacy that I felt it was worth mentioning as a happy ending.”