BEAUMONT, Texas — People are rallying around the Humane Society of Southeast Texas after a video showed a thief ducking under the shelter’s van and cutting off its catalytic converter.
Reactions began pouring in from all over Southeast Texas with people offering to pay for repairs.
On Monday the catalytic converter from the shelter's van was stolen.
On Tuesday, 12News exclusively aired their story, and since then, there's been an outpouring of support.
RELATED: Suspect caught on camera stealing catalytic converter from Humane Society of Southeast Texas van
From calls to emails and text messages, Southeast Texans are offering to lend a hand.
Shelter manager Taylor Westphal is grateful to everyone who reached out.
“The community jumped in in less than 24 hours to help us get our van repaired and to attempt to help secure us our rental in the meantime and Mr. Baker with Baker Auto Repair has been fantastic and he wasn't the only one offering assistance,” Westphal said.
The owner of Baker Auto Repair is offering to make the repairs free of charge.
From towing the van to baker auto repair and him vouching to float the costs for the non-profit, Tim Baker said it's a nice thing to do since he has a personal connection to the shelter.
“The cat we have at home right now, we got from the humane society and they are a great resource in Beaumont, and we just felt like it was a good thing to try and help them out,” Baker said.
A great thing for Baker Auto Repair to do since these catalytic converters can be expensive to replace.
“It can be expensive to replace those components and it can run anywhere from $2,000-$5,000 to replace those on particular types of vehicles,” Baker said.
The animals will have their wheels soon as they just towed the van to the shop today, and Westphal with the shelter can only give his gratitude.
“All I can say is thank you, I mean from the bottom of my heart. Thank you,” Westphal said.