Hyattsville theft steals 2,400 Breadcoin food tokens, hurting anti-hunger effort

A break-in in Hyattsville stole roughly 2,400 Breadcoin food tokens, erasing about $7,500 in meal value and enough food credit for about 1,000 meals. For a small anti-hunger program that moves meals through neighborhood restaurants and nonprofit partners, the loss hit both families who depend on the tokens and the businesses that redeem them.

Breadcoin said the coins were taken Sunday from an employee’s car. Another account placed the break-in on 40th Avenue in University Park Township. Either way, the impact is immediate: the nonprofit lost inventory it could have sent back into circulation at a time when food prices and household budgets remain tight in Prince George’s County.

The Washington-based organization uses physical tokens that can be spent at participating restaurants, bakeries and food trucks across the DMV. Breadcoin says vetted nonprofit partners distribute the tokens to people in need, including residents who may have food access but lack a kitchen, storage or a safe place to prepare meals. That is the problem Breadcoin was built to address, a need it describes as the Kitchen Gap.

Theft is especially damaging because the tokens are not gift cards and cannot be canceled or deactivated after a break-in. They carry no serial numbers, which means whoever took them now has something that can be spent again and again. Scott Borger said the employee had gathered the coins over the weekend before the car was broken into, and he suggested the thief may not even understand what was taken.

Breadcoin said it began circulating in Washington in August 2016, after the idea was born in 2011 and the physical token was designed in 2015. The nonprofit now says its tokens are redeemed at 100 restaurants, bakeries and food trucks across the region, a network that relies on trust, quick reimbursement and steady token supply to keep meals flowing.

The organization has also used a nonprofit matching program that offers qualifying groups up to $300 in matching Breadcoins each month when they buy the tokens regularly. Founding Farmers & Distillers said Breadcoin reached $1 million in redeemed value in August 2025, underscoring how far the program has grown from a local concept into a practical food-access tool.

The Prince George’s County Police Department confirmed the incident and said it is investigating. Breadcoin is asking anyone with information, or anyone willing to help replace the stolen value, to contact the organization directly so the missed meals do not ripple further through the county’s food network.