LESS than 24 hours after 20 wrapped Christmas presents for children in intensive care were stolen from Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, 800 toys were sent from the people of Chelmsford.
Cliff and Linda Parker, from Springfield, run a Kleeneze catalogue business, and each year collect Christmas presents from 1,000 customers in the city.
They have delivered more than 5,000 toys and gifts to the children's hospital since 2005 and on Tuesday dropped off the 800 donations, stuffed into 18 boxes, from this year's collection.
The couple help Great Ormond Street because Cliff's 23-year-old son Oliver, who has cerebral palsy, was treated at the hospital when he was a baby.
"They were really good to us and really did a great job with Oliver," said Cliff, 46, a telecommunications account manager.
"They do such a great job for families up and down the country."
Every October the couple put a note in a catalogue sent out to their Chelmsford customers, asking them to buy a present for the children in Great Ormond Street, usually worth three or four pounds, and reward them by giving them a ten per cent discount on their normal purchase.
They then store the gifts in their spare bedroom before delivering them to the hospital a week before Christmas.
"They gave us the help in the early days and it's our way of giving something back to the hospital," said Cliff.
"The presents are only small but if it can help keep the patients, or their brothers and sisters, amused for a short while, then it's worth it."
The stolen gifts were taken between Friday and Monday from a private part in the hospital, Scotland Yard said.
A number of retailers and private donors have offered to replace the presents.
A Great Ormond Street Hospital spokesman said: "We have been overwhelmed by generous offers from individuals and companies to replace the missing items.
"These items have now been replaced by a long-term supporter.
"Thank you to everyone who has contacted us for their concern and kindness."
The hospital, which was set up in 1852, celebrated its 160th anniversary this year and treats more than 200,000 patients annually.
Its work was recognised in the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, when many of its patients and staff took part in a sequence paying tribute to the NHS.