Rotarians have received a phenomenal response to an appeal launched in west Suffolk this week in the aftermath of typhoon Haiyan.

Earlier this week, the EADT reported that the Rotary Clubs of Sudbury and Sudbury Talbot had been granted permission to carry out emergency street collections to raise money for humanitarian aid for the Philippines.

They aim to collect funds to purchase shelterboxes and other essential equipment.

Valerie Goodchild, Sudbury Talbot’s community service leader, said: “Our key location was outside the town hall, where we set up a demonstration shelterbox, showing people just what goes inside these pieces of kit, including sleeping bags, survival blankets, a multi-fuel cooker, plates, tools and even a small bag of items for children who have lost everything.

“Thanks in part to the excellent publicity we have been given for the start of our collections, we had a fantastic response from the people of Sudbury and raised £2,100 on the first day alone – enough for three shelterboxes at £590 each plus two more waterboxes at £150 each.

“The son of Sudbury Rotarian Tom Burrows, who is home after working in the Philippines with an aid agency, posted a picture on Facebook and received comments back from his colleagues who are still out in the Philippines. They said how much it means to the people there to know that they are getting so much support from the UK and across the world.”

The Rotarians will be collecting outside Sudbury Town Hall again today from 10am to 4pm.