A SMALL Wiltshire charity, which helps the emergency services find missing people, has been given a cup of cheer by coffee giant Starbucks.

Wiltshire Search and Rescue known as, WILSAR, was given £2,000 by the cafe chain as part of £175,000 of donations given out across Europe after it was nominated by customers and staff.

In the UK a total of 210 community charities took part in #cheerforgood and around 60,000 tweets were shared by supporters across the country.

WILSAR was one of 30 charities whose supporters cheered the loudest on Twitter and became eligible for the £2,000 grant.

Sarah Wolf from WILSAR said: “Cheer for Good has given us both a platform, and a reason, to shout about the great work we do. We hope to be able to start putting money towards new digital radios that will ensure we can better communicate with each other, and the emergency services. We are on call every day of the year and this money will keep us out on the ground for some time to come.

"Wiltshire Search and Rescue is a very small charity and we help the emergency services to find missing and vulnerable people. As a team made up entirely of volunteers, fundraising is part of everyone’s role but it can be hard to get our voice heard.

"Each year we are called out on average once a week and our work saves lives. The money that we have received from Cheer for Good is so vital in keeping our team going, from ensuring we have fuel in our vehicle through to ink cartridges for our printer and batteries for our torches.

"We are on call every day of the year and this money will keep us out on the ground for some time to come. We never rest in our aim to support our community when they need us most."

Martin Brok, president Starbucks Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), said: “Right across our business in Europe we’re proud of the connections we’ve made with local communities this Christmas. In the UK, we were thrilled to see the number of tweets shared using #cheerforgood almost double as part of this year’s Christmas community campaign - helping local charities, nominated by our partners and customers, to raise awareness and funds at this critical time of year. We look forward to building on these charity partnerships, and continue to support community projects all year round.”