Partner Article

Elf-drive supports hospices at Christmas

In the spirit of giving back at Christmas, the region’s largest independent vehicle-hire firm is supplying two Yorkshire-based hospices with free transportation to support their Christmas fund-raising for the third year running. But this year with a twist.

Arrow Self Drive will provide three different sized vehicles to Wakefield Hospice and two to Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice; both of which are offering residents across Huddersfield and Wakefield an opportunity to dispose of unwanted Christmas trees after the festive season.

The vans will enable the charities to collect and recycle used trees, reusing them as fencing and chipping in the hospice gardens whilst raising vital funds to help the organisations to continue funding patient care year-round.

Wakefield Hospice Tree collections will take place from Sunday 5th January through to Sunday 12th January. Local residents in postcodes WF1,2,3,4 and 5 and LS26 can call 01924 331406 or go to their website www.bit.ly/hospicetrees to book their tree collection.

Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice Tree collections are available to Huddersfield and Bury residents between 6th – 12th January, and collections can be arranged by calling 01484 411040 or booking a collection online at https://www.forgetmenotchild.co.uk/christmas-tree-collections.

Each hospice requires a minimum £10 donation from residents per tree collection. All proceeds from the charity Christmas tree sales and collections go to support the work that Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice and Wakefield Hospice does for their communities.

Adding to the festivities, the vans supplied for this year will have a Christmas makeover. The firm has rebranded 100 vans for their Christmas campaign, changing the logos on its vans from Arrow Self Drive to ‘Arrow Elf Drive’. Both hospices are dressing their drivers as elves for their tree collections to join in the theme.

Wakefield Hospice are also hosting an elf fun run on Sunday 1st December starting at Trinity Walk in Wakefield and they will be again supported by Arrow with an elf van to help transport all the event elements including ears, hats and selection boxes.

Jamie Strachan, events fundraiser for Wakefield Hospice commented:

“We are excited to be partnering up with our long time supporters for another exciting Christmas season. Arrow Self Drive’s support of vans last Christmas was a key contributor in enabling us to collect used Christmas trees. We exceeded 1,000 Christmas tree collections for the first time and raised a phenomenal £12,000 for Wakefield Hospice in 2018. This year we’re hoping to beat this target and the elfed-up vans are a great addition to the tree collections. On top of that, our elf run is perfectly matched with the #arrowelfdrive campaign. It’s going to be a good year for elves”

Jess Lees, Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice’s partnership executive commented:

“This is another opportunity for us to partner with our super supporters Arrow ‘elf-drive! The team at Arrow support Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice all year round, the relationship has gone from strength to strength over the past several years. We look forward to continuing this partnership throughout Christmas and in particular with January’s Christmas tree collection. Without Arrow ’elf-drive our collection and the money raised would not be possible.”

Along with the rebranded vehicles, Arrow Self Drive has launched a fun filled campaign complete with competition. Everyone can join in the fun by snapping and sharing photos of the festive vans on social media, as well as themselves in ‘Arrow Elfie frames’ (available at each depot or online as a download) using the hashtag #arrowelfdrive in a bid to win an Elf on the Shelf each week on the run up to Christmas.

Arrow Self Drive’s managing director, James Hill said: “We’re passionate about supporting communities across Yorkshire throughout the year and Christmas is a time when we like to go the extra mile to bring a smile to the faces of local people and charities. We hope our elf themed vans do just that.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellie MacDonald .