This Sunday is the start of advent and to mark the occasion, Jersey Hospice Care has launched its 2017 Christmas Tree Collection and Recycling Scheme. The festive initiative, which runs in partnership with the Aztec Group, is now open for registration until the 4th of January.
Now in its twelfth year, the scheme has raised over £270,000 through donations for Jersey Hospice Care since it launched in 2005. The Hospice is aiming for another successful year, after raising over £33,000 last year alone.
This year, the launch of Hospice’s Christmas Tree Collection falls at the start of advent (3 December), which will see many Jersey residents start to buy and decorate their Christmas trees, not necessarily thinking about their disposal. The collection scheme however, not only helps raise precious funds for the charity, it is also environmentally friendly as all the trees collected are turned into valuable soil improver for the islands local land and gardens, so it is well worth residents planning ahead and booking their collection.
The scheme is run by an army of local volunteers, who give up their time and vehicles free of charge to collect trees in exchange for donations to our local Hospice. All proceeds will help the specialist palliative care charity look after anyone in Jersey with a life limiting condition and their families.
Trevor Parker, the founder of the Jersey Hospice Care Christmas Tree Collection, comments:
“I’m delighted to see the tree collection return for another year. When we started in 2005, we never thought it would become such a big community event and that this year we’d be welcoming over 60 volunteers and aiming to collect over 2,500 trees island-wide. With an estimated 5,500 real trees sold every year, there’s a big opportunity to increase these numbers and have a record-breaking year.”
Sacha Patel, Income Generation Manager at Jersey Hospice Care, said:
“The support Jersey Hospice Care receives from the annual scheme is extraordinary. Every year, we are deeply touched not only by the donations from residents and businesses, but by the commitment and passion of the volunteers, who give up their time to come together for an amazing cause. It costs £14,600 a day to run our services for free, so the donations raised through the annual tree collection scheme will help to cover more than two days, which is just fantastic.”
To sign up for the 2017 Jersey Hospice Care Tree Collection and Recycling scheme, sponsored by the Aztec Group, visit www.jerseyhospicecare.com – online registrations open on the 1 December. Business collections will take place on 3 and 4 January, and residential collections will take place on 6 and 7 January 2018.
