A rush of last-minute donations has given the Salvation Army’s Christmas campaign a boost.

The extra push will help the charity to support about 1,200 families over the festive season.

Bermuda Emissions Control, the Corporation of Hamilton and insurer Ironshore have stepped forward to contribute to the Salvation Army’s Christmas hamper and toy appeal.

Calvin Ming, director of public relations for the charity, said: “There seems to be an increasing number of people looking for these hampers, and in particular toys.

“There seems to be a lot of single-parent families looking for help this year. Last-minute donations are critical this year because, from what we have seen, those families that need help in December will also need help in January.”

Mr Ming added that by yesterday afternoon the charity had received enough support to help families across the island over the holidays.

He said: “This is important to make sure that people are able to eat, not only during Christmas, but also in the new year.

“The message is out and people have really responded. Many, many people have taken goods and food supplies and so forth to our drop-off location at Botanical Gardens.

“We now have enough food, we think, to help 1,200 families around Bermuda.”

Around 620 people came to collect Christmas Hampers from the Botanical Gardens yesterday, with volunteers estimating that 1,500 gifts had been collected over the past three days.

Ceri Riihiluoma of Ironshore said staff jumped at the opportunity to support the Salvation Army’s campaign.

She added: “We participate in the Toys for Tots drive and have done for years, and I still have staff coming to me asking what else they can do.”

Ms Riihiluoma said that after reading an article in The Royal Gazette about the Salvation Army’s appeal, staff stepped up to donate dozens of presents.

She added: “When the driver came to pick them up, they said that they had hundreds of families to help and they were still relatively short on gifts and food. We decided to make a monetary donation as well to help fill in the gap.”

Donal Smith, CEO of Bermuda Emissions Control, said the staff and management of the company were keen to give back to society.

He added: “This gesture was suggested by Shannon Robinson, our general manager, and supported by the directors and staff.”

Charles Gosling, Mayor of Hamilton, yesterday presented the Salvation Army with a cheque for $10,000 to support their efforts.

Mr Gosling said: “As a City, we need to do what we can to help.”

The City also made a $2,500 donation to anti-drink driving charity Cada to support its Let Us Drive programme, which over the past ten years has offered more than 16,000 people safe rides home on Friday nights

The Let Us Drive service is available on Friday nights between 3.15am and 3.45am with departures from outside the Reid Street offices of investment firm LOM.