Gorham police continue the investigation of holiday gift cards reported stolen on Nov. 24 from the First Parish Congregational Church in Gorham.

The gift cards were for the needy to buy groceries.

“We have a strong lead we’re following,” Lt. Chris Sanborn of Gorham Police Department said Wednesday.

Gorham’s First Parish Congregational Church had purchased 22 gift cards worth $900 from Hannaford to provide needy families in Gorham with turkeys and produce for Thanksgiving dinners. But church members discovered the gift cards were missing at 8 a.m. on Nov. 24, when families began to arrive to receive Thanksgiving baskets and the gift cards.

The Rev. David Butler, pastor, said this week the gift cards had been stored in the office area on the second floor at the church.

The church had receipts for the gift cards and church officials said Hannaford traced the numbers. Butler said last week all $900 of the gift cards were used at about 7:15 a.m. on Nov. 24 at the Hannaford in Lewiston.

Honoring the commitment to the needy, Cherry Finck, chairwoman of the church’s missions committee, using money from other church accounts, bought $700 in replacement gift cards at the Gorham Hannaford. But Hannaford volunteered to reimburse the church for the full $900.

Richard Ramseyer, a spokesman for Hannaford, said Tuesday a check for $900 would be delivered to the First Parish Congregational Church on Thursday.

Gorham Detective Sears Edwards is investigating the gift cards theft with assistance of Hannaford security. Ramseyer declined to give details.

“It’s an ongoing police investigation,” Ramseyer said.