Coleraine gives and gives ...during GivingTuesday!

Simon Colquhoun, Store Director, Stephanie Grundon, Causeway Volunteer Centre and Jayne Booth, Moores of Coleraine.

To mark the day, Causeway Volunteer Centre launched an appeal for people to clear out their closets and give local people a real gift in time for Christmas.

River House in Coleraine supported Causeway Volunteer Centre’s GivingTuesday appeal with a whooping 25 bags full of clothes, toys, books and shoes all ready to be donated to local charity shops in the area.

Robert Wilson, proprietor of River House told The Coleraine Times:, “I think GivingTuesday is an excellent idea.

“ I’m delighted that Causeway Volunteer Centre took the initiative to encourage our tenants to contribute. Causeway Volunteer Centre staff member Stephanie Grundon was even given the opportunity by QRadio to promote the campaign.

She remarked: “The generosity of local people is immense and it is also amazing to see so many organisations getting behind the campaign.”

“The donations continued from far and wide, Translink, MLA Claire Sugden and Moore’s of Coleraine all showed their support by donating to the cause.

“654 bags in total were donated throughout the month of December, which is absolutely fantastic!

“The average bag value is set at £25 which equates to an enormous, £16, 350! Thank-you and well done to everyone who donated, we salute you! “

Charity donations on Giving Tuesday rose 270% compared with the same day last year, according to the software provider Blackbaud.

The company, which promoted Giving Tuesday in the UK with the Charities Aid Foundation, said donations were up by 43% compared with any other Tuesday in the year. Giving Tuesday, an annual campaign which encourages giving on the Tuesday after the US Thanksgiving holiday,

The British campaign hashtag #GivingTuesday reached over 180 million people worldwide after trending on Twitter for 11 hours.