After Christmas presents that were going to be given to San Antonio public housing complex were stolen, residents of the Texas city stepped up to donate over 2,000 presents to replace them.

San Antonio Housing Authority staffers had spent weeks collecting presents for more than two hundred children living in one of the city’s largest public housing complexes. They were devastated when these gifts were then stolen the night before they were set to be handed out.

When news of this broke, the people of San Antonio were so disturbed that they knew that they had to do something. Local churches and nonprofits teamed up with volunteers from the community to raise over $18,000 in donations and more than 2,000 toys.

Today, we watched the community come together and create a special Christmas for Alazan-Apache Courts after toys intended for more than 200 children were stolen overnight. We are humbled & grateful by the generosity. Thank you, San Antonio, for saving Christmas for our SAHA kids! pic.twitter.com/O82PIWuIed

— Opportunity Home San Antonio (@OppHomeSA) December 20, 2020

Joel Tabar, director of community development initiatives at SAHA, said that the housing authority was stunned by the community’s generosity, as it had never received this many gifts.

“San Antonio is a very caring and supportive community,” Tabar told CNN. “And in this case, the city came together to save Christmas for these hundreds of kids.”

“We’ve turned into the North Pole,” he added “Our dedicated elves are working feverishly to get as many toys as possible to kids before Christmas.”

“Operation Save Christmas is a wrap!” SAHA posted on Facebook. “SAHA turned into the North Pole this week after an outpouring of donations came in from the community and partners like H-E-B to give our children a brighter Christmas after toys were stolen from one of our community centers last week.”

“Today, we gifted toys to some 1,600 SAHA children across San Antonio including our families at Alazan-Apache thanks to the generous donations from San Antonians,” SaHA added. “A Christmas blessing indeed. Thank you to Mayor Ron Nirenberg for helping distribute toys with us and to Sammy Nieto for keeping this 25-year tradition alive.”‘

One donor was Amy Gonzales, who had some toys left over from a toy drive she’d held at her business, and she decided to donate them to SAHA.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this would be a great opportunity, and the timing was perfect,'” she told WOAI.

Tabar described the outpouring of support as well as the quickness with which the community carried it out as a true “Christmas miracle.”