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Midlands Air Ambulance Charity
(Image caption: Staff from National Highways visited Great North Air Ambulance's base to celebrate the donations.)
National Highways and members of its supply chain have been clearing out their cupboards to donate items for air ambulance charities to sell in their shops.
Staff across the Midlands, North West and Yorkshire and the North East have been donating clothing, accessories, toys, books and other household goods for the six air ambulances covering those regions.
Money raised from the sale of the donations will help fund the charities’ life-saving work.
Across the Midlands, 176 bags of donations were collected for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance and The Air Ambulance Service.
The North West Air Ambulance has received 120 bags, while in Yorkshire and the North East 293 bags were collected for the Great North Air Ambulance and Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
National Highways Regional Customer Service Programme Manager for Yorkshire and the North East, Ellen Harrison said: “We see the outstanding work the air ambulances do at close hand. Many of our staff and supply chain members have a real affinity with them, either from being on scene at incidents they are responding to, or through volunteering for their charities. For many colleagues just knowing they are there is a comfort.
“As independent charities that rely on the generosity of public donations we’re delighted to be able to raise funds to support their life-saving work in this way.”
Victoria Rogers, specialist fundraiser for Great North Air Ambulance Service, said: “Thank you to everyone involved in such a great team effort to help raise money for GNAAS through the bag collection initiative. We are 100% charity funded so this support means we can continue to provide our vital pre-hospital critical care at an incident to our communities throughout the North East and Cumbria 24/7. Each mission we undertake cost £5,000 so our supporters’ help and donations are a crucial part of our operations.”
Jon Cottrell, senior partnerships executive for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity added: “The donations kindly given to our charity shops by National Highways staff are really appreciated. The funds made from sales will mean our doctors and critical care paramedics can continue to provide lifesaving treatment to patients most in need.
“It’s thanks to the ongoing support we receive from the communities we serve which help make our daily lifesaving missions possible.”
It’s the second year National Highways and its contractors have collected for air ambulance charities. Last year the Yorkshire and North East region collected 164 bags of donations for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Great North Air Ambulance.
Ellen added: “We were thrilled with the response we got from our staff and colleagues across our supply chain last year, and even more so this year to see other parts of National Highways coming on board for such a worthwhile cause.”