Filipino nurses at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital raise cash for typhoon victims

The nurses held a collection for the British Red Cross over the weekend at Tesco Extra in Shrewsbury.

They raised £3,600 as shoppers dug deep to support the charity relief efforts in the Philippines where the typhoon killed at least 3,974 people. A further 1,186 are missing, according to the latest official figures.

Nurse Charissa Daniels, originally from the province of Iloilo city in the Philippines, co-ordinated the team of fundraisers.

"People in Shrewsbury have been incredibly generous," she said.

"Everyone has seen the images on television of people struggling for survival. People were coming up to us to give whatever they could to support the relief effort, you could see how deeply sorry they are."

At the weekend Tesco allowed the Red Cross to hold bucket collections at every Tesco Superstore and Tesco Extra in the UK, including Shrewsbury, Telford, Whitchurch, Ludlow and Ellesmere.

Red Cross volunteers were also out in force last night collecting at the sold out Under-21s EUFA European Championship qualifier between England and San Marino.

British Red Cross community fundraiser Rachel Olney said: "We have had an overwhelming response from people in Shropshire. The generosity has just been incredible.

"We would like to say a huge thank you to all the volunteers, including Charissa and her team, who collected over the weekend – and to everyone who has donated to the appeal. Together they filled all opening hours at six Tesco stores in Shropshire, totalling over 120 hours of collections.

"So far we've banked over £6,000 but we're still counting and donations from individuals are still coming in. We'd like to say a huge thank you to Shrewsbury Town FC and The Football Association for supporting our appeal."

For more information about the British Red Cross Typhoon Haiyan Appeal visit www.redcross.org.uk or contact Rachel Olney at ROlney@redcross.org.uk