BATON ROUGE - A fundraiser was nearly derailed over the weekend after a thief made off with one of the organization's $10,000 barbecue pits.

"When I came out here this morning, I noticed one of our barbecue pits was missing," said James LaBauve, Grand Knight of the local Knights of Columbus.

Someone stole the pit, which belongs to the Knights of Columbus civic organization, from St. Jean Vianney Catholic Church in Baton Rouge.

"Someone comes on church property to commit a crime, they'll commit a crime anywhere," LaBauve said.

The pit was a $10,000 custom-made smoker on a trailer, a trailer that someone managed to drive off with.

But organizers didn't let the theft ruin the fundraiser, the volunteers just had to work twice as hard.

The Knights of Columbus usually uses two pits at the same time, smoking up to 300 dinners at once. All of this is to raise money for the church and charities.

"Who'd want to steal something that big and what purpose would they have," Knights of Columbus member Michael Haskins asked. "Would they try to sell it and make money off of it, or maybe sell it for scrap metal?"

In the mean time the search for the missing barbecue pit goes on.

If the pit is not returned, the Knights of Columbus may have to cut back on it's giving until they can manage to afford another one.