Hasbro makes good

[michelle53]

This is an article from the Boston Globe:
[Parishioners and staff of St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Shrewsbury are scrambling to make sure local children in need find something under the Christmas tree this year, after thousands of dollars worth of donated gifts were stolen.

“They were for children who don’t have anything,” said parish secretary Judy Goselin.

The church has a “giving tree” every Christmas season to benefit Shrewsbury children, Goselin said. Parishioners take a tag from the tree with the Christmas list of a particular child and then bring the items to the church, she said.

The presents were being stored in a freestanding shed on the grounds of the church, which is located on Route 9.


The door to the shed was locked routinely, but when staff went out to the shed Tuesday, they discovered something was horribly wrong.

“The door was kicked in,” Goselin said. “Everything was taken, everything that a child would need or want.”

The shed contained thousands of dollars worth of clothing, toys, and gift cards for gas and groceries, said Goselin, a Holden resident who has been the parish secretary for four years.

“It sickened me,” she said. “People were very generous and it’s all gone.”

The Hasbro toy company has offered to replace all of the stolen toys to help ensure that Christmas comes on time for the children, Goselin said.

Parishioners have also offered to repurchase the gifts that they had donated, she said.

“The giving here is unbelievable,” Goselin said. “This is a great parish. God is good.”

Goselin said that past Christmas collections have gone off without a hitch and she is not sure who would steal the presents.

“It’s a very active parish and there’s a lot going on here,” she said. “It could have been anybody.”

St. Anne’s runs a food bank and thrift store and hosts a free medical clinic once a week, Goselin said.

Church staff are working with Shrewsbury police to find the thieves, she said.]


Good job Hasbro!!!!

[NoDivision]

Awwww

[Winter Bones]

Someone would steal donated toys? Really? It's so good of Hasbro to replace them; every kid deserves a merry Christmas!

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Sounds like the church needs to store the gift cards and cash in a locked safe on church premises in the future! 

Hasbro found a great opportunity for their Corporate Investment and this will bode well for them in PR.  Sadly it took a tragedy for the Hasbro executives to make this donation. Too bad the story couldn't have been, "Hasbro Adopts St. Anne's Families for Christmas" like, two months ago. 

[Desert Rose]

Omg who would do something like that? O.O It's absolutely horrible. Only thing that comes to mind when reading this is "The Grinch" :<

How wonderfull of Hasbro to step in and help out =) Shouldn't loose hope in them just yet

[Lunar Dust]

I think the church needs a new place to store all donated items from now on. Gift cards and any cash sould are kept in a safe or a looked desk drawer. As for whoever took the items they should be ashamed of themselves. Taking toys from children at Christmas is very sad indeed. Nice that Hasbro has stepped in and is replacing all the stolen toys at least that will make the children happy.

[MnDancer]

That is horrible and the horrible state the economy is in just makes things like this all the more common than they were before. When people get desperate they do stupid things. Thank you, Hasbro, for stepping in and helping out!

[alkevin]

Those children will still have a Happy Christmas.Good job Hasbro. I know economy is bad, but steal from the church and from children, that is a new low. 

[NoPonySpecial]

I hope they find the thieves and retrieve the stolen goods (at least as many as possible) so that the donation pile is twice as huge in the end.

[ApertureScience]

 

Hasbro, you guys are awesome!

And may the powers that be rain fire down upon the thieves...  There's no excuse for that.

[Ginger]

That's very nice of Hasbro!! Very sickening that somebody would steal from children in need.

I remember when I was a kid living in Boston, all of our Christmas presents were stolen one year. It was all very sad and we didn't have much, but we certainly weren't in need like those poor kiddos!

[Sakuyamon]

Aw how terrible! How can somebody do something like that? I remember about 2 years ago, they stole truckloads of game consoles and games that was supposed to go out to all the stores...they went out into tv and pleaded to the jerks to give the games back so that the kids could get the games for christmas...amazingly they actually returned the games.

Im so glad Hasbro decided to help out...its just a shame that they cant help out more kids, there are so many out there  who need a little kindness....Maybe we on the arena should try doing a donation drive to help adults and kids?

[karrie91]

I can't believe someone could be that sick.. some people are just plain out cruel!

But I'm so happy hasbro stepped in and wanted to replace the toys. And people are offering to buy items again? That's so sweet!

Just goes to show you.. for every bad person out there, there's several good people! 

[shabbychicdee]

it makes me feel sick and saddened that someone could be so greedy and selfish and down right evil, shame on you.
well done hasbro for keeping the kids happy

[hathorcat]

A horrible thing for someone to do but at least there is a good outcome...well done Hasbro I agree its easy to be cynical [I work in advertising lol!] and think of it as a pr ploy but I say big companies can pr ploy their hearts out as long as people benefit in a generous manner like this.