Beanfeast, which is situated inside Paisley Sheriff Court, has handed over £2,500 to four different charities.

The café is a not-for-profit organisation which is staffed by volunteers, and all the proceeds are given to charity.

Lawyers, members of the public, jurors, court staff, journalists and criminals frequent the café, with the money they spend on teas, coffees, juice and biscuits going to help local children.

And this week charities in Linwood and Paisley were celebrating after they were given £2,500.

Clippens School in Linwood, which cares for children who suffer from special needs, were one of the beneficiaries.

The school is in the process of moving to the old St Brendan’s High School and plan to use the £2,500 Beanfeast cash for computing equipment, such as iPads, to help the children learn.

The STAR project, which is based in Wallace Street in the north of Paisley, is another of the lucky charities.

They work with some of the most vulnerable families in the county and will use the funds to finance family programmes in the holiday season such as coffee mornings, educational workshops, carol singing and pantomime trips.

CARING – which is based in the grounds of Paisley’s St Fergus primary school – is another charity benefitting from Beanfest’s proceeds.

The organisation, which is open seven days a week, provides meals three days a week and breakfasts at the weekends for children.

CARING also helps kids with their homework and lays on activities, such as board games, computer games, camping trips and arts and crafts.

The last £2,500 donation went to Retts Syndrome Scotland, an organisation who help girls who suffer from the condition, which affects brain development and results in physical difficulties.

Sufferers can have trouble walking and using their hands, feeding themselves, and their movements can become restricted, while it can also lead to epileptic seizures and many girls affected by the condition can only say a few words.

The charity plan to use the money to produce a song made by girls affected by the condition to boost their confidence and raise awareness of Retts Syndrome.

Patron Charlie McCusker, who was moved to set up the café after his cousin’s son was born with autism, said: “All the money raised goes to charities selected by the volunteers who give their time to work in the café.

“The only stipulation from me is that it has to be childrens’ charities.

“I am delighted to be able to give a total of £10,000 to these four great charities to help support the good work they do.” The café – which has been going for more than 10 years – was started by Charlie, a Johnstone-based lawyer, using money he raised by running marathons.

In 2002 he competed in the toughest running event in the world – the 250-kilometre Marathon des Sables in Morocco, which took him across the sub Sahara, and he also ran a marathon in the Brazilian rainforest.