Education volunteers are dismayed after the “safe space” of their school charity in Pembroke was targeted by an overnight burglar, who stole cash and equipment.

Doyle Butterfield, the managing director of Peak Potential, which runs Scholars Bermuda, said the charity was still operating its programmes after a safe containing a modest float of cash was stolen along with some laptops.

“The biggest thing is, it really shocked us in terms of the security that we want for our place,” Mr Butterfield said of the teaching space at the Berkeley Cultural Centre, which the school took occupancy of in January.

“It took the team out for a while. Our whole thing is we’re just trying to make life better. It’s not easy ‒ this is the toughest project I’ve had to do.

“Just the fact that this happened to us is disheartening. But at the same time I do not want to bring any more negativity.”

Peak Potential Bermuda, registered charity No 1028, asked for the community’s assistance and support this week, although Mr Butterfield emphasised that the amount of cash taken in the incident, which has been reported to police, was not large.

A police spokesman said officers had attended the premises last Wednesday shortly before 1pm.

“Police spoke with the complainant, who informed officers that between Monday the 15th and Wednesday the 17th of July, 2024, a number of food items were removed from the school refrigerator.”

However, that same day it was discovered that “a small safe had been removed from a filing cabinet kept inside the school’s office”.

Mr Butterfield is the former head of Oxford Learning, which switched over to Peak Potential after the group “determined that, unfortunately, a lot of people that need these services cannot afford it — so we created a charity”.

Peak Potential and Scholars Bermuda launched in 2022, and now has six staff.

Mr Butterfield said that the group, which solicits donations through its website, helped about 60 students, aged from 8 up to university preparation level, to “keep up, catch up and get ahead” by sharpening their English, maths and study skills.

Students can get tutoring in twice-weekly sessions for an hour each time.

Peak Potential also partnered last year with the Department of Education to offer workshops to public-school students.

Mr Butterfield said the school was fortunate to have installed security cameras at its 1,500ft facility at 23 Berkeley Road, which captured an intruder slipping inside last Tuesday night after “bashing open” one of the external doors.

Footage showed a man with his face partially masked “coming through the doors, wandering around the property and ending up stealing a safe that was locked in an office”, which contained the float and some deposits.

Mr Butterfield said the burglar also helped himself to food out of the refrigerator, damaged a computer monitor and took two laptops.

He added: “We’ve had a locksmith in to fix the door, and we’re looking at replacing the safe.

“Fixing things costs us a lot more than this person walked away with.”

Mr Butterfield said the charity’s donors were informed of the break-in last Friday.

He added: “The first thing we did was secure ourselves. We’re replacing the items.

“It’s just been discouraging.”

The police are investigating and asked anyone with information is to contact Detective Constable Ian Taitt on 717-2371, or via e-mail at itaitt@bps.bm.

You may also call 211, or the main police number, 295-0011.

• To help or to learn more about getting involved, call 296-6060 or e-mail info@peakpotentialbda.org