More than 1,000 donated items of winter clothing stolen from Calgary charity

A charity that works to keep Calgarians warm has been the victim of a cold-hearted crime.

Project Warmth says more than 1,000 items of clothing donated by real estate firm Strategic Group were stolen from the charity's northeast warehouse Tuesday morning.

"There haven'tbeen a lot of donations so they brought a bunch of new garments and brought about 10 clear garbage bags full of clothes," said spokesperson Jonathan Fesick.

"By the time that I got back out there within the hour to bring them inside, someone had stolen them."

The organization distributes blankets, gloves, scarves, tuques, sleeping bags, jackets and other warm clothing items to homeless and underprivileged Calgarians through a variety of agencies.

"We were just totally taken aback because all they've got to do is go to an agency and they can have the clothes through the right channels."

'Disappointed'

Many of the donated jackets were brand new, Fesick said.

"I'm just disappointed in people. It'll slow us up but we'll have to make do," he said.

It was a big hit for a charity that's already struggling with a drop in donations.

Fesick said the charity plans to put up cameras and take other precautions to prevent similar thefts from happening again.

Strategic Group plans to replace the stolen items but any Calgarians that want to help can donate supplies at their local fire station.

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