The Leeton Uniting Church has donated thousands of dollars in gift cards to the Leeton Community Op Shop and the St Vincent de Paul Society in town.

The cards will be used to assist residents in need to purchase food and clothing.

The donation actually came about during the festive season, but it has taken until now for the funds to come through and the cards to be purchased.

"For some time now at a local level we have participated in UnitingCare's Christmas Appeal, which involves having a giving tree in Target stores," Priscilla Hester from the Leeton Uniting Church said.

"Our store here in Leeton is sadly now closed, but last Christmas it was still open.

"So the appeal ran as it always did. I'm not sure why the funding took so long to come through this time, but when it did I got in touch with Vinnies and the op shop and they told me what would work best for them in the way of gift vouchers they could use to help people in need in our community.

"The good thing about it with the lateness of the funding coming through is we actually received quite a nice amount of money. It was a bit of $2500."

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That means both Vinnies and the Op Shop both received an equal cut of the funding in the form of the gift cards.

"I think people will be pleased to know this money does come back to our community ... I'm not sure what will happen going forward now that we don't have a Target in Leeton anymore, but if there's a way we can still apply for the Christmas appeal funding we will be," Mrs Hester said.

"We've always wanted to provide the funds to groups that have the capacity to get the money and these vouchers out where they are really needed."

Both Vinnies and the Op Shop said the gift cards would be vital in helping community members.

"Due to COVID with our shop being closed and less fundraising activities we haven't been able to bring as much money in as we have in the past to help people in our community so this is a big help," Brian Troy from St Vincent de Paul in Leeton said.

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