Harrogate Asda staff and shoppers have helped to give the Yorkshire Air Ambulance a bumper Christmas present.
During 2014, the national supermarket chain’s 23 stores in the region – including Asda Harrogate – have raised a whopping £90,933 for the life saving charity.
And Asda is confident the amazing generosity of their employees and customers will help them reach £100,000 by the end of the year.
Money has been raised through a wide range of activities and events – from skydives to sponsored bag packing, tins on the tills, in-store Yorkshire Day and Grand Depart celebrations, sponsored walks, raffles and the sale of YAA merchandise.
Asda Harrogate has so far raised over £7,100 and store manager and Asda Yorkshire Charity Champion Barkat Ali, said: We are a Yorkshire-based business and this is a fantastic charity that does an amazing job saving lives across Yorkshire every day but relies totally on public donations.
A couple of Asda colleagues have actually required the help of the service, so it is a charity that is close to our hearts, and we are delighted to support the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) is an independent rapid response charity, which has carried more than 5,800 people in its 14-year history. It needs to raise £9,900 every day to keep its two helicopters in the air and maintained.
Without any direct government funding, the only help the charity receives is through the secondment of its paramedics from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust.
The money raised comes on top of a donation of just over £53,000 made to the YAA last year after a summer fundraising campaign by 17 Asda stores across Yorkshire.
Asda’s logo is now carried on both YAA helicopters as a thank you for the supermarket’s fantastic fundraising efforts.
Kerry Garner, the charity’s regional fundraiser, said: We are overwhelmed by the support and generosity of Asda, their store staff and amazing customers across Yorkshire.
