HONESDALE, PA — A lot of toys, worth between $2,000 and $3,000, were stolen from the Toys for Tots program in Honesdale on December 19. Shari Tirado, the coordinator of Toys for Tots in Wayne and Pike counties, said a thief made off with the toys that were intended to go to teenage boys and girls, as the organization was preparing to go into a second round of handing out the toys.

A message on the organization’s Facebook page said, “We are sitting here in tears, hoping we can help the rest of the families coming in. The Honesdale Police Department has been notified, and we hope that you are caught. You took more than toys from us; you took the magic out of Christmas.”

The organization is offering a $500 reward for information leading to an arrest of the person(s) responsible for the thefts.

Tirado said this was the busiest year ever for Toys for Tots in Honesdale.