Rankin Inlet (Apr 30/03) - A wave of reprehensible crime is plaguing Rankin Inlet.

The latest victims in the despicable acts of lawbreaking are starving children.

About 35 Alaittuq High students took part in a 30-hour famine earlier this month. The nationwide program is set up by World Vision to raise money for hungry and starving children around the world.

Teacher Simone Clark said a total of $2,500 was raised in the community, but the happiness over a job well done did not last long.

Most of the students had their pledges in before the Easter break holidays.

Clark had stored the money in a locked cupboard in her classroom for safekeeping during the Easter weekend.

"I decided I was going to take a whole weekend off for a change -- not take any work home with me or go near the school until Monday," said Clark.

"A couple of students who were late getting their money in showed up at my home over the weekend. When I went in to get the box so I could bring it home to finish the paperwork, the bag of money was missing."

There was also $40 stolen from principal Donald Clark's desk.

Nothing else in the school was touched and there was no sign of forced entry into the building.

Clark said almost every student in the school knew she was collecting famine money all week.

"I felt physically sick when I realized the bag of money was gone.

"It made me feel even worse that someone in our community would steal from hungry children."

Clark said the high school students were proud to have met their objective of raising $2,500 -- about $1 for every person in town. $2,100 of that total was stolen from her classroom.

The Kativik store has put out a donation jar to help recover some of the money.

Clark said she truly believes the perpetrators knew what they were stealing, and the community should be outraged over the crime.

"This is so upsetting because somebody's having fun with money that should have gone to hungry children.

"Where are we going as a community when people would stoop that low, to steal money from hungry children?

"It scares me."