Menah Charlick and Anna Kusner at the Castlehaven Community Centre

HEARTLESS thieves have robbed a food bank – and taken a cache of Christmas toys for youngsters and the charity’s stash of pet food.

The late-night raid took place at the Castlehaven Community Centre’s food bank last week – when the burglars smashed their way into a storage shed and emptied it.

Food bank manager Anna Kusner had been collecting gifts for youngsters for months, and was devastated to find them all gone.

She said: “The perpetrators took the lot – we’d been slowly saving up toys to make Christmas special for some of our most vulnerable families. We had started collecting items months ago. The need is so great and we wanted to make sure no one was forgotten – and then this happens.”

The food bank also provides help for people with pets, making sure cats and dogs do not go hungry – and their pet food store was also cleaned out.

Ms Kusner added: “It’s hard to understand how someone could be so heartless to take food out of a pet’s mouth. Now we need to start fundraising from scratch – and we don’t have long to get all this replaced.”

To help Castlehaven replace the stolen toys, contact: dcarrier@camdennew journal.co.uk