SACRAMENTO-

Thieves stole 2,500 pairs of socks from a small business that intended on donating them to the homeless.

“We came over to the office to decorate and surprise our employees, and we walked in and whoop! We got the surprise,” Tina Reynolds said.

Reynolds is the owner of Uptown Studios, a graphic design and social media firm based in East Sacramento. She told FOX40 her neighbors saw people repeatedly walking back and forth in front of her business on Thanksgiving night. When Reynolds arrived the following morning, several computers & several trash bags full of  socks were missing.

“They were in the back office ready to be lugged away, and they were (lugged away),” Reynolds said.

Uptown Studios has been collecting thousands of socks for the homeless for four years now, then donating them to Loaves and Fishes in downtown Sacramento. Their goal was to collect 5,000 pairs by December 19th, just in time for the holidays.

“The idea was to turn a negative into a positive. So I thought, let’s have a little fun with this. So, sock puppets,” Reynolds said.

The small business owner took to YouTube to make a plea for replacement socks, filming a sock puppet re-enactment of the robbery.

“It’s very serious. Dry socks are like a warm blanket to someone that’s out on the street,” said Reynolds.

“[They’re] like gold out here. Socks. Socks is one of the big  items,” Scott Wallace said.

Wallace has been homeless for four months. He is depending on Loaves and Fishes, which depends on donations for many essential items to get homeless men and women through the winter.

“Oh it’s brutal. It really will trickle down and affect the homeless people that use the services,” Wallace said.

Sock Donations can be dropped off at Uptown Studios, located at 410 Alhambra Boulevard in Sacramento, or at any Safe Credit Union Location.