Oh, Christmas tree…
A leading charity is celebrating after its festive fundraiser proved a record-breaking success – generating more than £23,000.
East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) ran its environmentally-friendly Christmas tree recycling service in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. Members of the public signed up to have their conifer collected, in exchange for a donation. It was then taken away to be recycled.
The team collected nearly 2,200 trees across the three counties – around 300 more than January 2022 – and the income raised comfortably eclipsed last year’s total of nearly £20,000. EACH community fundraising manager Tina Burdett described the service as an “amazing team effort”.
“We couldn’t be happier to have raised such a phenomenal amount of money,” she said. It’ll go such a long way to helping us continue our vital work supporting families and caring for children and young people with life-threatening conditions. Our thanks go to everyone across the region who signed-up for the service.
“Clearly, our success wouldn’t have been possible without such outstanding public support. However, there are so many others we need to thank and that certainly includes our two main sponsors – East of England Co-op and Treatt. We’re also extremely thankful to so many other businesses and individuals who got in the spirit and lent their support by pitching in and volunteering. Our success wouldn’t have been possible without such amazing man and womanpower. It really was an amazing team effort.”
The trees were collected between 12th to 14th January.
EACH worked jointly with St Elizabeth’s Hospice to cover postcodes in Ipswich, while the Norfolk service covered postcodes NR1 through to NR8, then parts of Heathersett, Poringland, Wymondham, Dereham, Diss, Holt, Sheringham and Cromer. In Cambridgeshire, there were collections in Ely and Huntingdon.
EACH organised its first tree recycling service in 2020, although the only collections were in Huntingdon. It raised around £4,000. The service had to be cancelled because of the pandemic the following year, although generous members of the public still made donations totalling £14,000.
“The scheme has grown and grown and we learn new things every year, helping make the process more efficient and streamlined,” added Tina. We’re always fine-tuning and every year the service gets bigger and better.”
