By Erica Solvig
The Cincinnati Enquirer

STOLEN ITEMS

About $1,600 cash from fund raising  Two televisions*  Two VCRs*  Three sets of hand radios*  Weather radio*  Two digital cameras*  Radio/CD player*  Lockbox with children's medication  50 DVDs  10 Disney videotapes  Microwave  Sweeper  Cordless drill  Hand tools  Flashlights  50-foot extension cord  First aid kit  Paper goods and food * Purchased by Head Start parents Anyone with information about the break-in at Happy Hearts Head Start should call the Warren County Sheriff's Office at 695-1280. Anyone who wants to donate to Head Start should call 695-2215.

SOUTH LEBANON - When someone broke into Happy Hearts Head Start and stole holiday fund-raising money, parents say it was as if they stole directly from their children.

"What kind of person does this?" Charity Rohrig, a Hamilton Township mother of two, said Tuesday. "They're not taking away from the adults; they're taking it away from the kids. It's just disgusting to me."

Other parents and Head Start officials are still wondering why someone broke a restroom window during Thanksgiving break and ransacked the school.

Stolen were televisions, digital cameras, children's medicine, food and about $1,600 in cash, among other items.

Just about everything is insured except the cash, which was raised by parents selling gift-basket raffle tickets and homemade candles, according to Lisa Cayard, director of Warren County Community Services Head Start. Not only did the parents lose their profit, which they hoped would replace aging computer equipment, but they still owe the candle maker $450.

"These are things we normally couldn't afford in our budget and things the kids don't have at home," Cayard said. "It's just heartbreaking."

Head Start is a preschool program for low-income 3- and 4-year-old children and their families that is funded by federal and state dollars. It serves 279 children countywide in four centers and two private child-care centers. Happy Hearts has 72 children from Mason, Morrow and South Lebanon.

No one was in the center, located in the old South Lebanon Elementary School on High Street, between Wednesday and Sunday.

The break-in was discovered when classes resumed Monday. Morning sessions were canceled as police searched the scene.

The Warren County Sheriff's Office has no suspects.

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com