It happens.... I don't think the thieves generally know the back story of who they are stealing from and I somehow doubt most of them would really care anyway. If they had that kind of empathy they would not steal from anyone in the first place....

Around here someone broke into a storage area and stole a number of adaptive bikes for a disabled children's program. As far as I know these were never recovered. A one legged cyclist also had his customized single crank road bike taken - I'd have loved to see someone try to ride away on that...