Deloitte raises more than £10,000 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance

The Leeds office of Deloitte UK, as part of its local corporate responsibility work, has raised more than £10,000 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance over the past year. The funds will help support the lifeline, which flew more than 1,300 medical emergency missions between 2014 and 2015.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance was launched in 2000, the service currently provides two helicopter air ambulances that range across Yorkshire and the Humber’s more than 5 million people. The charity organisation providing the service is not state funded, although its paramedic staff are seconded from the NHS, through Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust. The service, which flew 1,326 missions between 2014-15, requires £12,000 per day (£4.4 million per year) to stay in the air, with funds coming from donations by community members and businesses.

480 Deloitte employees at the firm’s Leeds office, as part of its regional corporate responsibility work, last year voted to support the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The firm recently announced it has donated more than £10,000 to the charity, on the back of fundraising efforts. Staff at the firm engaged a number of avenues to raise the funds for the charity – from traditional dress down days and bake sales to a sponsored 14 mile canoe challenge.

Helen Kaye, Partner and Corporate Responsibility lead at Deloitte in Yorkshire, says that she is “delighted” about the firm’s support of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance over the past year. She adds, “From the 480 people based in our Leeds office we have seen some fantastic fundraising efforts to help Yorkshire Air Ambulance in their mission to save lives across the county. Through our corporate responsibility programme at Deloitte our aim is to play a proactive role in helping our local charity deal with key organisational challenges, not just raising funds and also providing time and expertise through volunteering and pro-bono support.”

Kerry Garner, Regional Fundraising Manager, says, "It has been a pleasure working with the Leeds Deloitte team over the last year and we would like to sincerely thank their staff for their amazing fundraising efforts! £10,000 is a huge amount of money for the Charity and will certainly help to keep saving lives across Yorkshire. We are an independent Charity and rely on support from people such as the staff at Deloitte to help us raise the vital funds we need each and every day to keep both of our helicopters in the air and helping to save lives.”