WICHITA, Kansas – The ringing lights and the bright red kettle have become stapes of the season as the Salvation Army tries to raise money to help the needy during the holidays. But police are now asking for help finding thieves that stole a pair of kettles filled with donations.

A Salvation Army volunteer rings her bell, collecting donations to help brighten the holidays for the less fortunate. But instead of going toward a Christmas dinner or a toy for a child, twice this week thieves decided to help themselves to the money.

“The first thing that went through my mind was anger than I thought to myself if someone is so desperate they’re stealing kettles from the salvation army, it’s just pathetic,” said Tim Brown with the Salvation Army.

Kettles were stolen in broad daylight from outside an east side Dillons on Wednesday and then from in front of Towne East Square on Thursday. Police believe the thieves waited until the bell ringer went on break then tossed the entire kettle into the back of a pick-up truck.

"It's pretty despicable that somebody would take the donations from this charity and steal from the people that need it,” said Captain Darrell Haynes with the Wichita Police Department.

Salvation Army officials say they’ve seen a record number of people apply for help this holiday season. And while they feel bad for whoever was so desperate that they needed to steal a couple of their kettles, they say this year they could’ve used those donations more than any other year.

“This year it’s critical,” Brown said. “Every nickel is critical to us and to our success. This is a year where that's a great need and fewer people are donating, so it's a real challenge to us we really need to stretch the money we do get as far as we can.”

Police have no witnesses and no suspects yet. They’re encouraging people to come forward with information and keep a closer eye on the kettles so this doesn’t happen again.