National healthcare charity Sue Ryder, which operates Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice in Headingley, sends a huge thank you to the folk in and around Leeds who supported their Christmas Treecycling Scheme.
The national scheme raised over £87,000 to support Sue Ryder’s palliative, neurological and bereavement support. In Leeds, eight volunteers collected trees from people’s front gardens or driveways in return for a donation, supported by generous corporate partners Homeserve, Landscape Paving and Saltaire Signs.
The collected trees were then chipped by tree and vegetation contractors, WSH Services, to be used for biomass – with the money from the sale of the chippings being kindly donated back to the charity. This means that residents who chose to Treecycle were not only helping to raise vital funds for Sue Ryder, but also helping to reduce landfill.
Over 300 trees were collected from across Otley, Guiseley, Yeadon, Rawdon, Bramhope and Cookridge, which contributed to the total of 5822 trees gathered right across the country by Sue Ryder. Overall, the scheme has raised £87,391 for the charity so far, with more donations coming in.
Jo Stevens, Fundraising Manager at Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice: “We want to say a huge thank you to the local community for supporting our Christmas Treecycle scheme this year. It can be difficult to know what to do with your real tree once the festivities are over, but by recycling with us and making kind donations, you have helped to reduce landfill and raise vital funds so that we can continue to be there for families when it matters.
We also want to show our appreciation to all of our volunteers for donating their time and for their incredible efforts and hard work – without their support we really couldn’t make the initiative happen.”
Emily Bee, Customer Relations and Office Manager at Homeserve, one of the corporate partners who helped with the Christmas tree collections: “We were delighted to support the Sue Ryder Christmas Tree Collection. Being able to support our National Charity Partner on a local level is a great opportunity for HomeServe and our team in Leeds.
Our volunteer driver Jordan really enjoyed the day with the other volunteers. We hope that the tree collection service grows each year for Sue Ryder and we would be delighted to support the event again.”
Find out more about fundraising events for Sue Ryder in 2023 by viewing the events calendar at sueryder.org/whatson2023 or by contacting the fundraising team at Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice with any queries on 0113 2033373 or email: [email protected].
Cover photograph: Jo Stevens, Hospice Fundraising Manager.
