The thief who took $500 worth of holiday-themed fabric from the Black Hills Quilters Guild last week also stole a little piece of Christmas from military troops deployed overseas, guild members said.

Three boxes of Christmas material that guild members were using to create 200 to 300 stockings are missing from Faith Lutheran Church at 17 Indiana St., where the guild meets.

"They're taking Christmas from the troops," said guild member Susan Corbin. "That's kind of a kick in the teeth. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth that someone's going to steal it from a church and, secondly, that we can't get it to the troops."

Gwynn Hansen purchased about 250 yards of Christmas fabric on post-season sales this winter so the guild could make the stockings for the third Christmas in a row.

"I was going to be ready for another big year," Hansen said Thursday, two days after discovering the material was gone. "It's really discouraging for me." Hansen and Corbin were among those who sewed about 50 stockings July 7, only to find the fabric missing when they returned July 14. Church staff scoured the building for the boxes, to no avail.

"I just couldn't imagine that it would have disappeared," Hansen said, recalling her reaction to a similar story last winter about Christmas gifts for troops being stolen in California. "I said, well, this is terrible, but it would never happen in Rapid City."

Hansen bought more Christmas fabric Wednesday, but can't afford to replace the entire amount.

"I'm trying to retrench and figure out a way that we can still get stockings out to the troops," she said. "It would be nice if it came back."

The stockings, which the guild fills with donated or low-cost bulk toiletries and other items, are sent to the units in which relatives and friends of guild members are serving. With Christmas fabric on one side and sports-themed fabric on the other, the stockings are popular items with the troops, Hansen said. Last year, some of the stockings also went to residents at the Veterans Home in Hot Springs and airmen at Ellsworth Air Force Base who are away from home during the holidays.

Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8424 or mary.garrigan@rapidcityjournal.com