A little more than two months ago, a brief stop at home cost Connie Castellano more than $100,000.

The Bainbridge Island jewelry designer had been participating in the annual summer Studio Tour, and had stopped by her home briefly after a successful day of showing her work.

Her car was locked, parked in front of her home in broad daylight.

She wasn’t gone more than 15 minutes.

When she returned, Castellano found her car had been broken into, and what little of her custom-designed and constructed jewelry wasn’t stolen had been broken during the daring daylight theft.

The expected rush of police reports and insurance paperwork followed, but because her property had been stolen from her car she was left less than adequately reimbursed, Castellano explained.

The thieves have yet to be caught.

“They followed me to my little house and waited until I went inside,” Castellano said, explaining that the stolen works represented a major part of her life, not only as a job but also as a passion, a love.

“It’s how I sustain myself,” she said. “It’s how I put my daughter through the University of Washington. It’s not a hobby.”

Castellano cautioned other islanders to be cautious and vigilant.

“My concern is for my neighbors,” she said. “I’ve lived on Bainbridge Island for over 20 years, and never thought I would be hunted down like this. I just want our fellow islanders to be really careful and cautious.

“We’ve got to kind of all watch out for each other,” Castellano added.

She was even more right than she knew.

Even as she felt a temporary disillusionment with her beloved island community, the devastated designer was unknowingly about to get a crash course in hope.

Front Street Gallery, a co-op of artists from Bainbridge and Poulsbo of which Castellano is a member, were already hard at work organizing a fundraiser and auction to help her through the loss.

“We’re all local artists,” explained fellow gallery member Joanne Schoener Scott, one of the auction coordinators. “We’re a good community. We’re like a family.”

The www.crowdrise.com fundraiser has already gathered more than $800, and the auction is slated to take place from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Treehouse Café in Lynwood on Sunday, Oct. 19.

Items to be auctioned include original local art, jewelry, a sailing trip, gift baskets and more. A complete list of auction items can be viewed, bid on and even purchased now at http://www.32auctions.com/Connie.

Visit www.crowdrise.com/AbenefitforConnieCreatingArtOnceAgain/fundraiser/conniecastellano to donate.

The outpour of donated auction items and supportive enthusiasm made quite an impact, Castellano said.

“I was totally overwhelmed and humbled,” she said of the community backing. “[I was] very much humbled by the support and dedication and time it takes to put something like this together. Just talking about it is emotional for me.”

The fundraiser description clearly expresses her supporters’ feelings about Castellano, and the inherent importance of helping one another within a community.

“It is our turn to rally together to get her get through this horrendous loss and personal devastation,” it reads. “We need Connie’s abilities and art talent restored for the good of our community and all surrounding people touched by her gift of jewelry design.”

“It’s just one of those things you’d never image can happen in a small community,” Scott said.

To learn more about Castellano’s designs and career, visit www.conniecastellano.com.