An act of Christmas charity has turned into disappointment in humanity for a London family.

Sisters Amy and Mel Gillespie had collected and wrapped gifts for two women and two children burned out of their home in Wasaga Beach a week before Christmas.

The sisters awoke Tuesday morning to find the presents stolen from a family vehicle.

“It sucks. I am angry, disappointed in humans,” Amy Gillespie said.

“What part of your soul has to be missing to do this?” sister Mel asked.

A fire Dec. 16 destroyed a Wasaga Beach home rented by two women and one of the woman’s two sons, aged 7 and 10.

It was another in a year-end rash of Ontario house and apartment fires, all of which hit amid biting cold and four of which — in Woodstock, Port Colborne, on the Oneida settlement near London, and, most recently in Peterborough — killed 14 people.

No one was at home at the time of the Wasaga Beach fire, but a dog, cat and pet lizard in the home were killed, and the women had no insurance on the contents.

The Gillespie sisters are originally from Owen Sound and know people who know the women, so started collecting items to help out.

Along with game systems they no longer use, the sisters got a new DVD player, a television set and some new hockey action figures for the boys.

“How brutal is that that you are 10 and 7 years old and your house burns up and you lose your cat and your dog and everything that you own?” Mel said.

They wrapped the presents up, put tags on them and placed them in the SUV of their father, who was visiting for Christmas and heading back up to Owen Sound Tuesday.

When they awoke in the morning, the tub full of presents was gone.

“They took the tub too,” Mel said. “We made it easy for them to take everything.”

The thieves also took some items their father had bought for himself.

No windows were smashed in, so the Gillespies figure either the vehicle was unlocked or jimmied open. The vehicle’s alarm hadn’t been working properly lately.

The sisters filed a police report online but have no expectations of getting their property back.

Police say they can follow leads if a witness or camera caught someone in the act, Const. Kimberly Flett said.

Other than that, police work with pawn shops to catch people trying to fence stolen property based on the serial numbers victims file online, Flett said.

Flett repeated police warnings that people put items in locked trunks, and out of sight of would-be thieves.

The Gillespies had a few packages in the garage and bags of clothes in the house that weren’t stolen.

They’re also hoping people continue to donate through gofundme accounts for the two women left homeless, Nicole Quesnelle and Annick Bezeau.

The fire was accidental but there was so much damage, the exact cause can’t be determined, firefighters said.

rrichmond@postmedia.com