A fundraiser has been launched by Oldham food bank after a burglary in which items including cash donations, food and electronics used by volunteers were stolen.

Tins of chocolates similar to those given out to vulnerable families in Greater Manchester over the Christmas period, jars of coffee, a password-protected hard drive containing clients’ data, iPads and £200 in cash donations were taken.

A GoFundMe page has since been set up by one of the food bank’s volunteers to raise money to replace the stolen goods. In seven hours, over £1,400 has been raised through online donations – including from people as far away as Switzerland.

David Jones, the co-manager of the Trussell Trust-run food bank, said: “I feel aggrieved that somebody targeted a charity, especially one that is part of the community. This is an Oldham charity – all the volunteers are from Oldham, doing this for Oldham people.”

Two iPads that were stolen had been used to register people in need of fuel vouchers. Volunteers discovered the break-in, which happened over the weekend, on Monday. A window panel was taken out and a filing cabinet was destroyed in the raid, in which paperwork was thrown across the floor of the food bank’s office.

Jones said: “It’s obviously not opportunistic. If somebody has a sense of injustice with us, this is not the way to demonstrate their feelings – there are other ways to do that.”

All of the charity’s computers, including those that can be accessed by clients to sign up to universal credit, were left untouched. Another two iPads that were taken were being used to conduct a survey with the University of Edinburgh about the impact of food banks.

Despite volunteers having to clear up after the raid, the food bank, which is closed between Saturday and Monday, opened as usual on Tuesday.

On a normal day, volunteers give out food parcels, toiletries and clothing to between 10 and 20 clients. The Friday before Christmas, however, they gave out 74 food vouchers that can cater for whole families.

Lisa Leunig, who co-manages the food bank, said: “I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve been here for seven years. When I spoke to our area manager they said if you want to close tomorrow it’s understandable. But we said they aren’t going to break us, they aren’t going to stop us.”

Last August, £2,500 worth of sanitary items were stolen from a food bank in Salford, Greater Manchester.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester police said: “Police were called shortly before 10.15am Monday 7 January to a report of a burglary at a premises on Manchester Street, Oldham.

“An unknown offender entered the premises before stealing a quantity of cash. It is believed the burglary happened sometime between midday on Saturday 5 January and 9.50am on Monday 7 January. Inquiries are ongoing.”

Oldham, which is one of the most deprived areas in the UK, was one of the initial pilot areas for the rollout of universal credit.

Jones said: “Over the last 12 months we’ve seen a massive increase in the number of people we are supporting. It’s not just unemployed universal credit claimants – we’re seeing a lot more people who are in work.”

A spokeswoman for Trussell Trust said that while the trust did see break-ins at its food banks from time to time, this was not a regular occurrence.

She said: “Our area manager for the north-west is working closely with the food bank to support them as they respond to the break-in, and has reported that the level of support they’ve seen following the break-in has been huge. People across the community have really come together to help.

“If people want to support the food bank we’d encourage them to donate financially if they can.”