BOYNTON BEACH, Fla.  At first, it looked like the Rev. William James Bouie simply got taken advantage of for his generosity when two youths accepted a free meal at his church, then snatched a cash box containing $200.
But the theft, which occurred during a Community Deliverance Church fund-raiser a week before Thanksgiving and was publicized by local media, turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Since the Nov. 21 theft, donations of more than $2,500 have poured in, according to the Palm Beach Post.
Many of the gifts came from anonymous donors, like a couple from West Palm Beach, who attached a short poem to a check for $300.
"Do all the good you can, By all the means you can," they wrote.
"It turns out God knew what He was doing," said Bouie. "It's been a blessed week because of the incident."
He said he and the 130-member congregation used some of the donated money to deliver Thanksgiving dinner baskets to about a dozen families in the community.
The church is preparing for its Dec. 17 community dinner and some of the money stolen during a chicken and rib cookout would have paid for that.
Most weeks, the church sells meals to raise money for a planned $230,000 building expansion, Bouie told the newspaper. The church raises about $300 to $400 weekly selling meals.
Witnesses told police the two young men wandered around the church after Bouie gave them some meat and soda. About a half-hour later, they returned and snatched the cash box. Bouie said he does not think the thieves live in the neighborhood he's served for two decades.
"I'm not really upset about the money," he said. "What really pains me is that they took it the way they did. If they needed help, I would have given it to them."
