St Finnbarr’s Charities Shop has recently distributed £12,500 in donations to various groups and charities. As usual these are mostly local groups based in East Sutherland but this year two, Maggies and Mikeysline, which have centres in Inverness have been included. They both work with vulnerable groups throughout our area, one in cancer care and the other in mental health support.

The complete list of charities and groups supported is listed below:

• Alzheimer Scotland (for local use),
• Caithness and Sutherland Women’s Aid,
• Dornoch Beach Wheelchairs,
• Sutherland Care Forum,
• Support in Mind Scotland (Golspie Gatehouse),
• Mikeysline (Mental Health especially Suicide – has drop in and appointments in Inverness including evenings, also text-based support. all ages),
• Dornoch Academy School Library,
• Friends of Oversteps,
• Historylinks,
• Maggies Highlands,
• Meadows Patient’s Comfort Fund,
• Bradbury Centre,
• CALA (Care and Learning Alliance – Stepping Stones, Brora),
• Connecting Communities (Helmsdale based but serves all E. Sutherland, older people at home, community support, meal delivery),
• CAB,
• Lawson/Cambusavie Memorial Hospital Fund,
• Migdale Hospital Comfort Fund.

The hard work and dedication of the volunteers means that the Charities Shop is now open Monday to Saturday 10am-1pm. The continuing Covid restrictions mean that we are only able to have a very small number of customers in the shop at one time and we would like to say thank you to our customers who wait so patiently in a queue to come in. The Charities Shop would not be so successful without the many donations of goods to sell and the support of our customers both returning and new – thank you. We look forward to seeing you in the shop.