An East Kilbride food bank will benefit to the tune of £4555 thanks to the generosity of shoppers and staff at the town’s main shopping centre.
Although visits to see Santa were free, shoppers at EK, East Kilbride were encouraged to pop a few coins in the wishing well after their visit.
All money from the donations went to Loaves and Fishes – and when managers at the shopping centre tallied up the total, they were left speechless at the amount raised.
Well-wishing shoppers and staff raised a fantastic amount, as well as donating thousands of food and toiletry goods, to the charity.
The money will now go towards supporting vulnerable families in and around East Kilbride.
Denis Curran from Loaves and Fishes said: “This is absolutely tremendous.
“The charity has been extremely busy this year and I cannot thank EK shoppers enough for their donations.
“Without the kindness of the public, schools, businesses and others, many families would have been in dire straits.
“We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the people of East Kilbride and further afield.”
In addition to the wishing well donations EK, East Kilbride joined forces with the EK News to secure toy and food donations in the run up to Christmas with hundreds of items passed to Loaves and Fishes over the festive season.
EK, East Kilbride marketing manager, Suzanne Heraghty, added: “I am delighted EK shoppers have again shown their support for a very worthy charity.
“This is a fantastic sum and our thanks go to everyone who donated. Loaves and Fishes has been doing tremendous work for many years and we look forward to continuing to support Denis and the team in the future.”
The EK News was delighted to be able to play our part in raising awareness and encouraging readers to donate throughout our Christmas appeal.
We teamed up with EK, East Kilbride and Sainsbury’s to run our ‘reverse Advent calendar’ for the lifeline charity.
