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DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) – Preparing to head out to a festival, Boy Scout Troop 746 went to pick up their trailer full of gear, behind Saint Pius Church in east Dallas, on Friday. The trailer was packed with all their camping gear and this time also had the cookware they needed to make and sell funnel cakes at the fundraiser. But when they got to the church the Scouts found the trailer was gone.

“Oh, I was just thinking, oh no! Please not now!” recalled Troop Leader Phillip Young. “Unfortunately, within a few hours we’d realize it had in fact been stolen.”

Thieves left the children with some wooden stands, a shattered lock and broken hearts. Scout Sean Hunley said, “Once I found out it had been stolen I was just kind a shocked. I didn’t know why anyone would want to steal the one thing we like to get stuff out of.”

All told the trailer and gear is worth about $6,000, but it’s far more valuable to Troop 746. “It’s not just tents it’s a lot of camp gadgets and trinkets we’ve made over the years and that became part of the troops equipment and unfortunately those things take years to replace you know?”

Also priceless to the boys: cast iron cookware. “One of our Scout leaders, he’s famous for his peach cobbler… it’s [stolen trailer] full of his awards,” explained Scout Collin Young.

The youngsters aren’t the only ones concerned about the sweet treat cookery. Hunley said, “Tommy Stanford always made such the best peach cobbler. It just kind of stinks that we lost all that.”

The Scouts’ meeting room is adorned with the mottos and values engrained in the boys — but now they’re learning a hard lesson about why those values are important.

“Don’t steal because then other people are left without stuff and I can’t do anything about it,” said Scout Zachary Ponewash who added how the experience made him feel, “Not good at all. I hope that they return it back to us.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the boys replace their trailer and equipment. Click here to check it out and donate.

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