The community of Vernon has responded with kindness following a major hotel theft involving members of the Ford World Women's Curling Championships.

Someone broke into 11 rooms at the Prestige Inn Sunday taking roughly $10,000 in world currency and some paraphernalia, including an Italian team jacket.

Inspector, Steve McVarnock, says whoever committed the theft had special knowledge of the hotel's security.

"What we don't know is the exact method of entry into the rooms. Whoever did the break-in obviously had some intimate knowledge that those specific rooms were occupied by the curlers."

He says police do have something to work with.

"We do have some surveillance footage from the hotel and we're working with the tournament organizers in trying to identify this person to determine if this person is associated with the event. We're also working with hotel staff."

McVarnock says there's no indication that hotel staff were involved.

Meantime, the people of Vernon are reaching out to the world curlers.

Event Coordinator, Toby Oswald-Felker, says the people of Vernon want to make it right.

"We're already hearing from the fans and the people of the city and they want to find out how they can help. That shows you the wonderful community that we're in. They're asking how they can help, how they can donate, what can they do?"

She says the athletes affected want to put the thefts behind them.

"We've talked to the teams and they've all indicated that they want to focus on their curling and hopefully this kind of thing won't mar their experience."

The currency stolen was Canadian, Swiss, Swedish and Chinese.