Thousands of pounds have been donated in the space of a few hours after a serious fire in St Ives also caused Christmas food hampers and toy donations to be damaged in the neighbouring building.
St Ives Salvation Army adjoins The Harbour seafood restaurant in Wharf Road, which was at the centre of the blaze that began not long after 5pm last night and raged throughout the night.
At one stage 12 fire crews were battling to fight the flames.
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This morning St Ives Salvation Army confirmed that much of its Christmas appeal donations had been damaged as a result of the fire.
Writing on the charity's Facebook page, a spokesperson said: "Thanks for all the kind messages of support.
"Yes, it appears that many of our food hampers and toys for the Christmas appeal have sadly been damaged."
St Ives Guildhall and St John's in-the-Fields Church have both been opened today for people to make donations of food hampers and toys to replace those in the Christmas appeal, which will be handed out to families in need this December.
A JustGiving page has also seen a huge outpouring of donations this morning.
It can be found at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/salvation-army-st-ives
The fire could be seen across St Ives. Picture: Peter Stratton
It had initially been set up in the hope of raising £1,100 to support its community work during the coronavirus pandemic, which ranges from supporting food banks and NHS isolation units to providing counselling and checking up on people living alone.
However, after news broke that its Christmas appeal donations had been affected, the fundraising page now has £8,861 in donations, as of 12.40pm on Saturday, with the total rising all the time.
The charity said in its original appeal: "The last few months have seen immense suffering and hardship from storms and flooding. However the outbreak of the coronavirus has quite literally changed everyones' lives and turned society upside down.
"The Salvation Army is resolute and strong and just as we did in the Spanish Flu pandemic, and during the bombing and the Blitz we will carry on, doing what we can to support people and communities in the ways that we can, within the Government guidelines.
"In true Salvation Army Spirit, our greatest strength is our flexible, responsive local presence. Right now, each of our 650 corps and community centres will know exactly what the most effective things are to do.
"We are not just responding to the virus impact in one or two ways, but dozens and dozens of different ways, from food banks to counselling, from supporting NHS isolation units to checking up on people who are living alone."
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