Supporting the Choose Charity Shops campaign

At the weekend, I visited the DEBRA charity shop in Raeburn Place, Stockbridge, in the heart of my constituency. The local DEBRA group had invited me to visit the shop, to back the UK wide Choose Charity Shops campaign, coordinated by the Charity Retail Association. Here's a link to the main DEBRA site here http://www.debra.org.uk/ (their Stockbridge shop is at 15 Raeburn Place).

DEBRA provides practical support and funds research into EB (Epidermolysis Bullosa). EB is name of a group of genetic disorders causing blistering and shearing of the skin from even the gentlest friction, often from simple day to day activities. DEBRA provides practical support and funds research into EB (Epidermolysis Bullosa),

The Charity Retail Association has said that charity shop popularity is at an all time high. Charity Shops raise over £200 million every year for a wide range of charitable causes and they also reduce the UK’s carbon emissions by 3.7 million tonnes every year through reusing items. They also support 17, 000 jobs and 180, 000 volunteering opportunities. Charity shops thrive on donations of unwanted items from members of the public, so that's why nearly 6, 000 charity shops in the UK came together in this campaign to ask members of the public to make a donation to a charity shop in their area and to continue donating to charity shops for the coming year.

I was glad to able to donate some items to the Edinburgh DEBRA shop, and hope that they, along with the other charity shops in Stockbridge and elsewhere in my constituency, continue to be supported by local residents and visitors alike.