A small Christchurch parish is asking thieves to make good on what they stole after 13 Christmas trees destined for a fundraiser were pinched.
The money raised was to go towards buying food parcels for those in need.
Organiser Allan Stack said, "Very disappointed. You know, if someone was really that hard up, we would be quite happy to donate a tree to them, but I really don’t think it was someone hard up doing it".
The Christmas trees are planted by the church and grown for three years, before being sold by the parish for $25 each.
The charity scheme has been running for more than 20 years.
"When we only sell between 60 and 100 trees a year, it’s a lot of income off the small amount that we get," Mr Stack said.
The theft has left the church more than $300 out of pocket. They are now appealing to the thieves to pay for them anonymously by sliding the money under the church door.
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