For the last six years, St. Teresa’s Hospice and Darlington Rotary Club have teamed up to collect up to 1300 used Christmas trees direct from homes around Darlington and Newton Aycliffe, taking them to the waste disposal depot for recycling into garden topsoil.
In return, the homeowner donates a small sum – minimum £5 – direct to the Hospice which is a vital local charitable organisation carrying out an invaluable service to the area, supporting families at particularly challenging times.
It is currently undertaking a major and expensive expansion of the services on offer through its in-house health care.
This year we hope to significantly increase the number of trees collected by tagging, with a promotional advert, up to 3000 trees at point of sale from Croft Christmas Trees and Darlington’s Elm Ridge Nursery.
This will lead to Darlington Rotary Club’s largest ever community service venture with some 60 Rotarians volunteering to collect trees on Saturday 6th January.
A fleet of 20 large vans, kindly loaned by Darlington’s Sherwood Vauxhall Group and Enterprise Rentals, will tour local streets all day.
“We are determined to beat last year’s record 1350 trees and further increase the £7,500 we raised for St. Teresa’s Hospice”, said Rotary Organiser David Hayward.
“We are particularly grateful to the residents of Newton Aycliffe from where we collected over 70 trees and this is a win-win scheme for everyone. Homeowners get a no-mess collection and the Hospice receives much needed extra funds.”
