I'm sorry if this has a really obvious answer but if kit and lemony weren't planning to steal for VFD then why were they planning to steal? You said something in one of your post a bout stealing for a group of friends their own age?
This topic is touched upon in the books. They do plan to steal for VFD… but not the VFD their chaperones belong to:
“How much of this does your chaperone know?”“How much does your chaperone know,” I asked, “about your secret trip here?”He smiled at me. “You can’t tell them everything,” he said. “They wouldn’t understand.”“Who taught you that?”“You did, Snicket. Remember? You said we could make our organization greater than ever, but only if we stopped listening to our instructors and found new ways to fix the world. It was quite the speech you gave. It almost got you thrown out for good.”“Maybe they should have thrown me out.”[Widdershins & Lemony Snicket - When Did You See Her Last?, Chapter Thirteen]
This speech is the same one Lemony gives later at Wade Academy to the newly-founded Association of Associates. He essentially wants to rebuild VFD from the ground up and move on to more ambitious projects with volunteers of his own generation (Hector, Widdershins, Josephine, Kit, possibly more). Because adults suck and because they can’t be trusted and because they will never, ever understand his sensitive, tortured, delicate precious little soul.
He doesn’t realize he’s kickstarted a new Schism on top of the original Schism:
“With each generation, the schism gets worse.”[Dewey Denouement - The Penultimate Peril, Chapter Eight]