Volunteers Carolyn Williams and Chloe Turner helping out with the Longfield tree collection.
Longfield Hospice is appealing to local people: ‘Give us a van, give us a day, give us a crew’ to help its annual ‘Treecycling’ campaign, in partnership with charity JustHelping.
Each year, around 200 volunteers enjoy a fun and physical day or two collecting thousands of real Christmas trees from homes across Gloucestershire, which are then recycled.
Last year, the campaign – which is run in partnership with national organisation JustHelping – saw more than 4,600 real trees recycled into chippings, raising more than £76,000 from donations for local hospice care.
Celebrating ten years of collecting trees around Gloucestershire, the 2027 tree collections will take place from Sunday 10 January to Sunday 17 January.
William and Martin from EESI help with the Longfield Treecycle Collection earlier this year
Jane Dyer, Head of Fundraising says: We are particularly looking for volunteers with vans across Gloucestershire – whether you’re a company, an individual, a group of friends or a community organisation. If you have a removal truck, flatbed truck or other suitable vehicle, even better. But don’t be put off if you just want to help with admin behind the scenes – we anticipate that this collection will be our biggest yet.”
Volunteers can register their interest on the ‘Get Involved’ section of the Longfield website: volunteers with vans – Longfield Community Hospice.
The charity is also keen to hear from companies willing to sponsor a van and fuel or provide volunteers and vans.
All money raised helps to fund the hospice’s vital work supporting people affected by a life-limiting illness or grief.