BROOKLYN – Connecticut State Police Troop D received a call a little after 7:45 a.m. on Christmas morning for a vandalized donation box and money stolen from the animated light display located on Wauregan Road in Brooklyn.
Christopher Lambert, the owner of the house with the animated lights, has been setting up his house with the display for about 12 years to raise money for different charities each year.
“My heart sank, so we made a call to Troop D. You know, we were doing presents when I had came back out, so all three boys and my wife and I included... we were all just kind a very somber, very angry,” said Lambert.
The light display is up from Black Friday all the way through Christmas, running from sundown to about ten or eleven at night, depending on the size of the crowd.
This year’s donations were supposed to get donated to Camp Quinebaug, a summer camp for special needs individuals, in Danielson.
The camp was planning on purchasing a special swing for children in wheelchairs. They were short of the amount needed for the swing at the time of the incident, but were looking forward to the donation anyway.
Neighbors in the community reacted online to show the Lamberts that the holiday spirit is still very much alive.
Jo-Anne Lambert said, “Immediately we had a messages, and messages from people coming in text and Facebook messages just the outpouring of generosity from people, it truly was the Christmas spirit.”
Lambert took to Facebook to report a local man, Stephen Clifford repaired the donation box.
Clifford told FOX61 he was only helping a neighbor, “He (Lambert) was like I host Christmas, I really don’t have the time to help Fox the box, but then I said I had already been down there and took measurements and I mean it’s just giving back to thy neighbor, it’s what we do.”
Lambert says with thanks to Clifford, donations will continue to be collected for Camp Quinebaug.
As the family tries to move forward they say they will take this lesson with them.
“Good will overcome evil and just be aware of what you’re doing, I mean whoever did this went out of their way to take money from my very deserving charity and they didn’t get really anywhere with it,” said Lambert.
Connecticut State Police are requesting that if anyone has any information on the incident to call TFC Deojay #801 at 860-779-4900.