Having your vehicle broken into while attending a funeral is bad enough, but it was even worse for Katy Thuleen because the items stolen have special significance.

Thuleen’s father-in-law died in October and at the time people made donations in his name to Opportunity Partners, a nonprofit in Minnetonka that supports adults who have disabilities.

Katy Thuleen had the checks, which totaled $2,000 to $3,000, in her vehicle because she intended to bring them to the organization after a different funeral on Tuesday. But someone stole those checks, and now the Thuleen family is asking anyone with information to come forward.

“I’m just devastated,” said Katy Thuleen.

Roland Thuleen was previously president of United Cerebral Palsy and his grandson, with whom he had a special relationship, has cerebral palsy. Opportunity Partners is a program that the 28-year-old grandson attends.

The theft happened when Katy Thuleen was attending a co-worker’s mother-in-law’s funeral at St. Thomas More Catholic Community at Summit Avenue and Lexington Parkway on Tuesday. When she returned to her vehicle in the parking lot about 11:15 a.m., she saw the passenger-side window had been smashed and glass shards covered the inside of her vehicle.

A large gray tote bag had been stolen, including the 20 to 25 checks that were inside and a couple of hundred dollars in cash donations to Opportunity Partners, Thuleen said.

A woman attending Tuesday’s funeral told Thuleen that, before the service, she had noticed a red truck with Wisconsin license plates idling in the parking lot and a man walking around the lot; she didn’t have a description of the man and it’s not known whether he is connected to the theft.

Thuleen is asking anyone who comes across the checks or has information about them to contact St. Thomas More church or St. Paul police, with whom she filed a report.

“We’d really like to get these back because they have little to no value to anyone but Opportunity Partners,” said Scott Thuleen, Roland’s son.

Roland Thuleen, who died at age 100, started working as a page at First Bank in Minneapolis — now U.S. Bank — when he was 16 years old. He retired 44 years later as executive vice chairman and was active as a volunteer throughout his life.