THE shocking events of the tsunami disaster have sparked a massive response from people in the Tavistock area, who have donated thousands of pounds to the appeal fund. Town centre shops have been filling buckets with cash and local charities have been stunned by the generosity of the town?s residents. David McCaffrey, of Oxfam in Tavistock, said: ?We have been overwhelmed with donations. In two days we took enough money to provide water for a quarter of a million people ? that?s just in the Tavistock shop. ?People are coming in in tears. We?ve had children giving in their pocket money and one little old lady came in and wrote a cheque for £1,000 ? it?s quite out of this world.? Mr McCaffrey said the shop was forced to bring in extra volunteers and extend its opening hours to cope with the flow of people coming in to donate. ?They are queueing out of the door and our volunteers themselves have been in tears at the response and the support the appeal is getting. ?And it?s not just cash donations. People have been giving brand new Christmas presents, still in their boxes, and a massive amount of second hand goods which we can sell to raise money,? said Mr McCaffrey. He said the Russian Government had offered Oxfam the use of a huge transporter plane to ship supplies to the affected areas. ?It means there are no other costs, so 100 per cent of what people give will help directly,? he said. Tavistock Rotary Club organised an emergency collection in Bedford Square last Friday. Edwin Clark, president of the club, said: ?When news of the extent of the disaster became known we identified clean water as an absolute priority for survival in many parts of the region. ?In spite of the Christmas and New Year break we managed to mobilise enough Rotarians for a collection, raising £3,760.? Mr Clark said the club would like to thank everyone for donating so generously to the appeal. He said: ?The response from the people of Tavistock has been magnificent ? but more is needed and we plan another street collection on Bedford Square this Friday.? Shops in Tavistock have been collecting money in buckets by their cash tills. Alan Feakins, manager of Somerfield in Tavistock, said: ?We do a lot of fundraising but we?ve never raised so much money so quickly ? we?ve had £20 notes chucked in to the buckets. ?Virtually everyone wants to give something ? it?s now a case of getting it banked as quickly as possible.? So far, Somerfield has raised £755.68. Firefighters from Yelverton Fire Station did their bit for the appeal. They collected money from shoppers at the village parade on Thursday afternoon, raising an incredible £1,700 in just a few hours. Firefighter Alan Brown said: ?We would like to thank everyone for donating so kindly ? it was an absolutely unbelievable response.? Tavistock Pannier Market held an impromptu appeal during the Friday charter market ? £1,000 was raised in less than five hours. Deputy market reeve Mike Souttar said collections will continue for the next fortnight. He said: ?The response all round was brilliant. We had some big cheques ? it?s amazing how people have responded.?
