TEXAS COMPUTER EQUIPMENT STOLEN Dallas Charity Burglarized Just Before Thanksgiving | NBC Dallas-Fort Worth:

Dallas Charity Burglarized Just Before Thanksgiving Thieves steal computer equipment from Catholic Charities office

Updated 7:42 PM CST, Wed, Nov 26, 2008

A Dallas charity said thieves broke into its office and stole computer equipment just before Thanksgiving.

The burglars smashed into a window at the Catholic Charities office on Maple Avenue. Vanna Slaughter said the break-in was "pretty disheartening."

"This is all we need; it's a very hectic week trying to see clients before the holidays," she said.

On the day of the break-in, Catholic Charities was scheduled to hand out Thanksgiving gift baskets to its 12 most needy clients.

"You just wonder who can do this sort of thing so close to the holidays," Slaughter said.

"They could have come in we would probably been able to help them if they were so destitute in their lives," she said. "They didn't have to do this."

Donations are down and the needs of clients are up. The charity said the thousands of dollars it will cost to replace the broken window and the stolen computer equipment will take a toll.

"This just takes our time away from helping people, and it's going to take resources away from helping people as well," Slaughter said.

Julian Noel said his photography studio three doors down from Catholic Charities was burglarized last week.

"I've lost two days or more at least of production," he said.

Police said the two incidents may be related.