Six charities in North Yorkshire have received a cash boost from a local building society.
The six good causes received a share of a £2,000 pot of money donated by members of the Yorkshire Building Society.
The society’s Charity Choices campaign was launched by Richmond MP Rishi Sunak in Westminster in May. He cast the first vote in a poll which continued in the society’s Northallerton and Richmond branches.
The number of votes received for each charity determined the amount of money each charity received.
Topping the poll in Northallerton was the Friarage Hospital MRI Scanner Appeal. It received £500.
Hambleton and Richmondshire Mental Health Support received £300 and The Dales School at Morton on Swale £200.
Mr Sunak visited the Northallerton branch of the society to handover the cheques.
He said: “I think it is great idea to allow local people to decide which local causes should benefit from this excellent scheme.”
In Richmond the awards were: Just the Job environmental enterprise (£500), the Richmond and Catterick Riding for the Disabled Association (£300) and the Georgian Theatre Trust (£200).
The donations are funded by the Yorkshire Building Society Charitable Foundation’s Small Change, Big Difference® scheme where members donate the pennies from the interest they receive on their accounts, just once a year, to help charities and good causes in their communities.
In 2015, the Charitable Foundation paid 1,502 donations totalling £392,276 to good causes and charities throughout the UK.