Julia’s House is seeking a team of “elves with wheels” to help with the local charity’s big Christmas tree collection in January.
The Wiltshire children’s hospice will be collecting and recycling real Christmas trees from homes across the county in the New Year. And the charity needs lots of vans and helping hands to make the tree-mendous mission possible.
Claudia Hickin, Julia’s House Fundraiser, said, “Last year we collected around 650 Christmas trees and raised an incredible £9,250 in total across both Wiltshire and Dorset to support our care for seriously ill children and their families. This January we hope to collect even more, and we’d love to hear from any local businesses and individuals with vans who might be able to help us and help their local community at the same time.”
She added, “We’re essentially seeking a team of elves with wheels, who are happy to be helpers and volunteer a few hours of their time for us after the Christmas season.”
The charity is looking for vans of all sizes to help for a minimum of three hours in Wiltshire across their three collection days, between Sunday 8th and Tuesday 10th January. Volunteers are also needed to lift and load Christmas trees onto the vans.
Once collected from local homes, the trees will be taken to Old Potato Yard in Devizes and recycled as chippings for use on local farms and community spaces.
This year’s Julia’s House Christmas tree collection in Wiltshire will take place in Devizes, Pewsey, Marlborough and other surrounding locations, with bookings opening on the charity’s website from Monday 12th December.
All funds raised from the Christmas tree collection will help the Wiltshire children’s hospice provide its lifeline of care for the most seriously ill children and their families in the local community.
The promotion of this year’s Julia’s House Christmas tree collection is kindly sponsored by Rubicon People Partnership. Established in 1982 with a recruitment approach of a consultancy rather than an agency, Rubicon provides permanent recruitment and temporary staffing solutions local to Dorset, Wiltshire and the surrounding areas.
If you would like to donate a van or volunteer your time, please get in touch with the Julia’s House team at tr********@ju*********.org or call 01380 562525.
About Julia’s House:
Julia’s House is a local charity dedicated to supporting the families of children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions in the heart of the community in Wiltshire and Dorset. Many of these children require round-the-clock care, which has a huge impact on family life.
Julia’s House provides bespoke care for every family it supports, with each family receiving around 200 hours of free care each year. Parents can choose when, where and how they receive their care – at home, in the community or at one of the charity’s two hospices in Devizes and Corfe Mullen – making it a truly flexible service. Julia’s House is there for the whole family, not just the sick child, providing emotional support and social opportunities for parents, grandparents and siblings to help break the cycle of anxiety and isolation that can lead a family to breaking point.
This regular clinical care, respite and emotional support, plus emergency end-of-life care and bereavement support is provided completely free to families, thanks to the generosity of the local community. Julia’s House relies on public donations, fundraising and legacies for around 92% of the money needed to keep running its vital service in Wiltshire and Dorset.
Julia’s House children’s hospice cares for nearly 200 families across Wiltshire and Dorset. Currently nearly 80% of the children supported by Julia’s House need two care team members present during their community sessions due to the complexity of their condition. And as more life-limited children are living for longer and with increasingly more complex care needs, demand for the specialist care that Julia’s House provides is expected to rise in the coming years.
The service that Julia’s House provides has been rated ‘outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission and the charity is a Sunday Times Top 100 Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For.
For more information visit www.juliashouse.org
