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On July 24, Allison Wangen had a package stolen off her front steps. The crime is bad enough, but the circumstances made it even worse.

Inside the package was a quilt made of t-shirts saved from high school, college and numerous trips and vacations. The sentimental value of this package was therefore priceless. Gone are memories, present is sadness.

Unfortunately, this is all too common and with the holiday season not that far over the horizon, you can expect these kinds of unfortunate incidents to continue. People can’t be home all the time when packages are delivered and oftentimes they will sit on a doorstep for hours and become a tempting target for the unscrupulous, who care little for the feelings or values of others.

It’s hard to say if Allison will ever see her package, her memories stolen from her own home. Even though the person didn’t break into the home, we can only imagine how she and her family feel knowing that a brazen  crime was committed on their doorstep.

As people begin casting their eyes toward Christmas and the holidays, we urge you to take precautions to try and stem this behavior.

• Keep an eye on the tracking of your package and take steps to ensure the package is picked up as soon as possible.

• Consider delivering the package to an alternate location you trust, either a place of work, friend or relative.

• Install cameras such as the Ring system that can alert you to somebody on your doorstep. Often, you can speak through a cellphone into the system to hopefully stop somebody from taking your item.

• Help out your neighbors. If you trust your neighbors, ask them to watch any packages that might be on your doorstep or even ask them to retrieve it and hold on to it.

Allison is just one victim in a line of victims who have had things stolen from their doorstep. Let’s help ensure that others won’t have their memories taken from them. We should not be forced to capitulate to people with low moral standards.