07-05-2025
6 suits worth $3,600 meant for boys in mentorship program stolen off Boston doorstep
Six suits meant for members of a mentorship program for young men were stolen off a porch in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood.
Graduates of the Follow Suit mentorship program often leave with some confidence, financial literacy skills, and a brand new custom-tailored suit.
"So it's their suit, they picked out what color they want, they picked out the fabric they want, they picked out the pattern they want, so it's their suit," said organizer Anthony Thompson.
Members of the Fellow Suit mentorship program wearing their custom-designed suits.
Follow Suit
6 custom-designed suits stolen off doorstep
However, six of their recent graduates won't be getting the chance to show off their new duds like previous students after Thompson said a porch pirate took the package containing their suits off the doorstep of one of the program organizers, Gilbert White.
"I was alerted that it was delivered, I came downstairs and the package was gone," said White.
He's in charge of helping the kids pick out their suits, and said one of the biggest challenges now is figuring out how to replace them.
"That's a hit to our budget that we have to now replenish in order to remake those suits," said White.
Asking for suits to be returned
White estimated those six suits total about $3,600 and they are considering this theft a total loss. Not just for them, but for the kids as well.
"It's still a hard hit because like you said, the kids have to dedicate their self to coming every Saturday for seven weeks, so then they have to wait another two, three weeks until the suits are completed, so now you're looking into 10 weeks and now there's no suits for the kids so now they're going to be waiting even longer," said Thompson.
White told WBZ-TV they're hoping the suits will be returned.
"So we're not looking at trying to put anybody behind bars or anything we really just want the suits for these young people in the program that we served," said White.
