Rotary club’s festive appeal raises £8,330

RHONDDA Rotary Club braved the elements to collect more than £8,000 during last month’s Christmas Collection, making it the fundraiser’s highest ever total.

Volunteers armed with collection buckets took to the valley’s busy shopping streets and local supermarkets. Christmas songs and traditional carols helped get shoppers in a festive mood.

Rhondda Rotary Club thanked “the members of the public who gave so generously by dropping their coins, and sometimes notes, into the buckets”.

In total, the Christmas Collection raised £8,330.

Club president Susan Morgans praised the efforts of the collection team, especially the “military precision” of chief organiser and Rhondda Rotary Club member Gwyn Rees, who has run the event for many years.

“Christmas 2016 resulted in a record collection”, Ms Morgans said, “but 2017 surpassed that with another record total”.

Thanks were also extended to the supermarkets which participated in the collections.

Rhondda Rotary Club has been organising its Christmas Collection for more than 20 years, and recently expanded its scheme to include supermarkets in the Rhondda Valley and beyond.

Stores in Treorchy, Tonypandy, Dinas Powys, Porth, Upper Boat, Pontypridd and Talbot Green all participated in the collection scheme.

Rhondda Rotary Club will use the funds raised to support local, national and international organisations.

The Christmas Collection scheme follows another successful fundraiser organised by Rhondda Rotary Club. Winners of the second edition of the club’s Community Raffle were drawn in December, after £15,000 had been raised via tickets sold by 45 local organisations.

With all costs covered by Rhondda Rotary, Ms Morgans said the club was “helping organisations to support operations within the local community”.