It takes White Pine Little League volunteers a few hours each May to raise about one-fourth of the donations the non-profit group needs to operate for a year.

You can help yourself to seconds at the annual Little League fundraiser breakfast. But someone helped themselves to too much.

But it took somebody else just a few seconds to run off with the money those same volunteers collected during their most recent fund-raiser Saturday.

Little League volunteers were scrambling to clean up after their annual breakfast at Broadbent Park when someone stole a bag containing the proceeds from the event. The bag may have contained up to $1,500 in donations, according to White Pine Little League President Court Hall.

The bag was stolen from the park's concession stand at some point between 11:10 and 11:30 a.m., Hall said. Fortunately, all of the donations that were collected prior to last Saturday's breakfast are safe and sound.

According to breakfast chairperson Kim Cunningham, the area in and around the concession stand was buzzing with activity. The perpetrator took advantage of the large crowds that had gathered for the breakfast and the Nevada Open Road Challenge's car show in the adjacent ball field.

“We were all going in and out of that concession stand,” Cunningham said. “I don't know that we would have noticed anything unusual.”

However, when Cunningham returned to the scene on Sunday afternoon, she noticed that the door to the concession stand had been kicked in.

She suspects that someone could have been looking for the bag, which may have been stashed somewhere on the premises.

It appeared that someone had been rummaging through the concession stand, but at that point, not much remained.

However, the thief did leave one thing behind: a footprint on the door to the stand. Cunningham is hoping that evidence may aid the investigation that's currently under way.

Hall said that local banks have been notified of the theft and will report any suspicious activity to the sheriff's office.

In the meantime, if event attendees find that their checks have not been cashed, the Little League is asking them to consider making another donation.

“If you feel inclined, or if you find it in your heart to write another check, we would greatly appreciate it,” Cunningham said.

If you have any information about the theft, contact the White Pine County Sheriff's Office at 289-8808. You can also contact Court Hall at 293-0099 or call Kim Cunningham at 289-5326.