Shoppers in the Eastgate Centre gave more than £55,000 to local causes over the festive period.
Santa’s Grotto, which was fully funded by the Eastgate Centre, raised an impressive £5,000 for The ARCHIE Foundation Highlands, while the Poppy Scotland ‘Pop-Up Shop’ managed to collect over £11,000.
United Charities, which sold Christmas cards throughout the winter months, collected over £17,500 on behalf of several local charities. The Inverness and North Kessock RNLI also held their annual stall selling Christmas cards along with diaries and calendars and raised over £5,500.
Tain Royal Academy traditional music group Gizzen Briggs similarly returned to Eastgate to play for Children 1st and raised a massive £1,200 in just over 4 hours.
Christmas shoppers were also treated to a marathon five-hour Carolathon on Saturday 17th December by members of the Inverness Choral Society. The well-loved annual event in Eastgate raised just under £2,000 which was split between the Inverness Choral Society and their chosen charity for this year, the Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland.
The Salvation Army also spread Christmas cheer and raised almost £2,000 for their Christmas carol efforts and a further £7,800 for their Gift Wrapping appeal.
The festive events continued throughout December and over 3,000 presents for under privileged children were donated to the Giving Tree which was organised by The Order of St John.
Jackie Cuddy, Eastgate Centre Manager, said: “Our heartfelt thanks go out to each and every Eastgate shopper that has donated to local causes this year. With the support of our shoppers and retailers, as well as local business’ we are able to help our community all year-round through various initiatives and supporting fundraising events but we couldn’t do it without our loyal shoppers.”