Hartlepool's Giving Tree appeal attracts more than 100,000 donations

Bosses have been blown away by the support for the centre’s virtual Giving Tree campaign, with gifts donated from all over the UK and even America.

The shopping centre organises a Giving Tree every year in order to support local charities in Hartlepool, but were unable to do so this year due to the COVID-19 situation they were unable to do this in the normal way for 2020.

The campaign moved online with an original expectation of 1,500 gifts to be donated. Just 10 days later, this total sits at 104,829, and the campaign has been shared across Facebook and Twitter with more than 28,000 shares and 14,000 retweets.

To get involved, visitors to the website choose a tag, purchase the gift, and then post it to the shopping centre, where a team of helpful elves are processing the immense number of presents and working to get them wrapped in time for Santa to deliver to all the children on Christmas Day.

The shopping centre chose to partner with the Hartlepool Carers, a charity providing support for those who find themselves as carers for someone in their life, and the Harbour Support Services, a specialist domestic abuse charity that has worked for over 37 years to improve the lives of families living with domestic abuse, and those who have been forced to flee their homes quickly and leave all possessions behind.

Centre manager Mark Rycraft said: “We have been blown away by the success of this campaign, and we are incredibly grateful that the town, the country, and, it seems, the world has come together to support these amazing charities.

"The Giving Tree is a campaign that allows us to work together to alleviate the stress our fellow neighbours may have – and in a year as difficult as this one has been, this has never been more important.

“We want to say a huge thank you to everyone that has donated so far, and an even bigger thank you to InStudio who created this amazing website for us. It really is a fantastic way to end the year, and we have been amazed at the kindness shown by strangers in our local community and across the UK.”

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