Volunteers will be helping to raise money for St Giles Hospice while also helping households in Lichfield dispose of Christmas trees in January.
Last year saw more than £15,000 raised for St Giles Hospice after more than 2,000 trees were collected as part of the Treecycle campaign.
Now the charity is hoping even more people will use the service this year – and is also calling for volunteers to work off their Christmas dinner by signing up to help with local pick-ups.
St Giles Hospice events manager Chloe Herbert said:
“Treecycle is a fantastic, popular fundraising event which helps people to get rid of their real trees easily and raises money to support our vital work.
“It’s so simple, you can book a place online and we can take away a tree of any size – it just has to be a real one.
“You don’t have to be in when we call round and you don’t have to cut up your tree. Just leave it outside your home and we’ll do the rest.
“Nobody wants to get needles all over their car, so why not book your collection and get your old tree taken away without the fuss and mess?”
Chloe Herbert, St Giles Hospice
Ian Harding, finance manager at DHL in Fradley Park which supports Treecycle, is among those volunteering on the tree collection team for the second year in a row after his firm donated a day of his time last year.
Ian said he was keen to support the charity which cared for his father Eddie before his death in 2008:
“My dad had respite care at St Giles which was a huge help to my mum. So when DHL asked for volunteers to help out on the Treecycle collections I put my name down straight away.
“St Giles were amazing. You can’t put a price on the service they deliver and I can’t praise them enough.
“I think the Treecycle scheme is a fantastic idea. I loved my day of volunteering.
“For someone who works with balance sheets and numbers it felt like I was doing something truly worthwhile.”
Volunteer Ian Harding
People can book a slot online before 2pm on 7th January. Collections will take place from 6th January to 11th January.
Minimum donations are £8 for trees up to 8ft tall and £12 for trees between 8-10ft tall. For bigger trees, email treecycle@stgileshospice.com to arrange a special collection.
The Treecycle service is being supported by Lichfield Tree Works and Greener Composting in Wall, Lichfield.
Chloe added:
“Our volunteers are vital to making this event a success so if you fancy starting the new year with a good deed then give us a call on 01543 756398 or email volunteer@stgileshospice.com.
Chloe Herbert, St Giles Hospice
“The more vans we have the more trees we can collect, so if you are a man with a van and you are able to help let us know.”
