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The money stolen from a touring youth choir’s van on Saturday in Gastown was enough to pay for 14 children’s education for one year back in Uganda, a chaperone with the group said on Sunday.

The Sawuti African Children’s Choir, eight Ugandans aged eight to 15 and five chaperones, are midway through a six-month Canadian tour and had performed Friday night for two Christian fellowships in south Vancouver, raising $7,600 in offerings.

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That money, plus an estimated $2,500 more in cash and $5,000 in cheques, was in abriefcase that was stolen while the group was having lunch. Someone smashed a window of their van near the corner of Abbot and Pender and took off with the loot, plus two laptops and an iPad.

Collection receipts for the previous three performances were also in the briefcase, making the exact amount of cash stolen unknown.

Chaperone Chris Spark said he was sick to his stomach.

“We’ve been completely bowled over by the generosity and hope of the Canadian people everywhere we’ve been since starting in Winnipeg (in January),” Spark said. “We get to Vancouver and this happens.