Hundreds of donated gifts stolen from Shrewsbury church

Tens of thousands of dollars worth of donated gifts were taken from St. Anne's church in Shrewsbury overnight Tuesday.

The church's food pantry manager Joanne Keegan said someone kicked the door of the church's shed in and took the gifts being stored there.

Keegan said everything from gift cards to toys, boots to coats were taken. In all, hundreds of gifts worth thousands of dollars.

According to Keegan, the church collects donations all year to benefit less-than-fortunate families during the holidays.

"It was so heartbreaking to see they were taken from a child," said Keegan.

Keegan said each gift was the Christmas wish of a child from the pantry.

"This is for a boy aged 12. He wants some pants and he wants some mens shirts," read Keegan from one of the lists. "He'd like to get a helmet and a skateboard."

Keegan said she was once a recipient of the donations given to the food pantry.

"My son was a little bit older when this was, so I think he would understand," said Keegan. "But I'm thinking about the 4-year-old or 5-year-old who's waiting for Santa Claus to come down the chimney and then they don't have gifts."

Shrewsbury police were investigating.

Hasbro toy company, which is based in Rhode Island, has stepped up, saying it is willing to donate toys to replace much of what was stolen.

NOTE: Tuesday evening Hasbro called Fox 25 and said they had seen the story on myfoxboston.com and offered to replace all of the toys that were taken. Assignment editor Bill Sheerin put the company in contact with the church and reporter Heather Hegedus later confirmed that the company was going to fully replace all of the toys.

If anyone would like to donate to the church they can call 508-799-4169.

Cox Media Group