Grinch Steals 250 Toys from Homeless Kids, Community Responds

It seems that Whoville's big, green villain isn't the only one with a heart that is two sizes too small. One mean Grinch in Seattle stole toys that were meant to go to 250 children in need.

Staff members were shocked to discover the stockpile of toys—worth $6,250—missing from a storage room of a YWCA in Seattle’s Central District. A staff member had noticed the storage room door open on Friday and thought nothing of it. But that following Monday morning, the YMCA facilities director called community resource coordinator Nichelle Hilton and informed her that the toys were gone. Cardboard boxes and a lone Hello Kitty shopping bag were all that was left behind.

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"Who would do that? Who would steal Christmas presents from homeless children?" asked Hilton.

Luckily, all was not lost: Rick’s Toys for Kids, the nonprofit founded by Seattle Mariners broadcaster Rick Rizzs that had originally bought all of the toys, said that it will use its reserve funds to replace all of the stolen items. The nonprofit tries to maintain a $40,000 fund for emergencies like this.

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And as word of the theft spread, passers-by began dropping into the center to donate armfuls of toys. "I've gotten wonderful people just walking off the streets, donating toys," Hilton said late Monday afternoon. "I hope to be able to call Rick [Rizzs] and say, 'We're covered.'”

 

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