JustHelping have been working with Katharine House Hospice in Staffordshire since 2016. Their Christmas Tree Collection appeal is managed through the JustHelping website, so when a supporter wishes to register a tree, they go on the JustHelping website register their tree and make a donation. Once the bookings have closed, JustHelping provide Katharine House with the details of all the trees that need to be collected and will organise the collection routes if required.

In the first year we worked together we also arranged marketing materials for Katharine House, assisted with promotion, organised the booking system and produced the information needed to undertake the actual collection of the trees.

Wherever possible, we will always do our best to match hospices with local companies to maximise volunteering opportunities for the campaign. This year, we were able to match Katharine House with GSA Techsource Ltd, who were looking for a great cause to donate a day of staff volunteering too. A team from GSA will taking on the vital task of leafleting the local area to maximise tree registrations and donations for the hospice.

Katharine House Hospice also work with Veolia, a local  waste management company  who were very keen to offer their services to assist the Hospice with the collection and disposal of the trees.

Andrea Pugh, Fundraising Co-ordinator at Katharine House Hospice explains: “We need to raise £3.1m every year to enable us to provide palliative care to people across mid-Staffordshire living with a life limiting condition completely free of charge. £2m of that money comes from the generous support of our local community. Last year the Christmas Tree Collection appeal raised £5k which was enough to pay for a whole day of care in our in-patient unit.

“Veolia provide a vital service to our collection. They manage the actual collection of the trees for the Hospice. They organise the routes, provide the vehicles and staff to collect the trees and take them to a recycling centre, all at no cost to the Hospice.

“And we are thrilled to welcome GSA Techsource Ltd to the team this year, the leafleting work they are taking on for us will make a huge difference when it comes to the number of registrations we manage to secure. It has been brilliant that JustHelping were able to match us with this organisation.”

Andrea also believes that the Christmas Tree Collection appeal provides an important service to the mid-Staffordshire community: “I think that after Christmas people are often ‘stuck’ with their unwanted tree so it is fantastic that JustHelping offer the service to have the trees collected and recycled but to be able to do it in collaboration with local charities enabling them to raise money from the service as well is brilliant.”

Andrea adds: “At Katharine House Hospice our collections and subsequently donations, are growing year on year and the initiative is a very easy and successful way for us to raise vital funds.