D.C. Central Kitchen's Gregg Malsbary shows off what vandals did to one of the organization's vans overnight. (Photo: TBD Staff)

Nine vehicles belonging to local non-profit D.C. Central Kitchen were vandalized overnight, and officials with the culinary job training and food pantry organization believe the damage was deliberately targeted at them.

"We do feel it was more of a personal attack," says Gregg Malsbary, director of revenue generating programs at D.C. Central Kitchen.

More than half of the organization's 15-vehicle fleet has been taken out of commission for the time being due to the damage, according to Malsbary. Director of kitchen operations Jerald Thomas first discovered the vandalism at about 5:30 a.m.  All nine affected vehicles had red spray paint applied to their sides or windows. A rock had been thrown through a window in one van. Another had a sideview mirror torn away.

The most striking thing about the vandalism is how specific it appears to be. Surveying the damage as a whole, it really seems as though whomever is responsible was trying to send DCCK a message. The organization's logos are crossed out and obscured by red spray paint on nearly all of the vehicles.

"You can see here, they went up, down, and across, in an 'X,'" says Malsbary, gesturing to one of the vandalized vans. "This has caught everybody off guard."

Who would attack a prominent service provider for the homeless? It's a question that D.C. Central Kitchen officials are grappling with today. While Malsbary says they really have no idea, he mentions the word "jealousy" when speculating about who might have done such a thing. DCCK's profile has increased even more this year now that it has partnered with D.C. Public Schools to pilot a new program providing healthier, "from scratch" meals for District of Columbia schoolchildren.

D.C. police had yet to respond to the scene as of about 11:30 a.m., according to Thomas, even though he'd called several times. Malsbary says that law enforcement officials have asked them to leave the vehicles in place until they can be examined, which means the kitchen may have trouble making its normal deliveries to its partners and other area soup kitchens.

Thomas met with officials from the nearby Federal Bureau of Prisons this morning to review security footage that might have captured possible suspects, but he says the cameras appear not to have been pointed in the right direction.

Malsbary says that though D.C. Central Kitchen has been shocked by the vandalism, they are still in business today.

"We feel badly that this happened, but we're still going to continue to march forward," he says.