Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s pop up charity shop at the St John’s shopping centre in Leeds has now raised the charity more than £20,000 since its opening in March 2020.
The retail unit was kindly offered by the St John’s Shopping Centre team to help raise the profile and vital funds for the lifesaving rapid response charity, which responded to 534 incidents across West Yorkshire in 2020, 62 of which were from the Leeds area.
Donations to the charity shop have been generously gifted by the public, members of staff and volunteers, including clothing, Bric a Brac and hand-knitted baby and children’s clothing. Also available to purchase is much of Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s official merchandise.
The charity store was also delighted to welcome the Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Asghar Khan to one of their events before Christmas to learn all about the important work of Yorkshire Air Ambulance across the region.
Angela Vyas, West Yorkshire Community Fundraiser for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to the Leeds St Johns management team for this fantastic opportunity to highlight the vital work of our charity in their shopping centre, to our wonderful volunteers who have given their time to run the shop and we would also like to thank all of our customers over the last year for their continued support and generosity.
The funds raised from the pop-up shop will go towards our core costs to keep both of Yorkshire’s air ambulances flying across the region.”
Susan Mendoza, St John’s Centre Manager, said: “We are so pleased that we have been a part of this wonderful achievement. It has been a privilege to work in partnership with Yorkshire Air Ambulance throughout the pandemic and we are grateful to all of our customers, tenants and employees for providing support to this incredible charity.”
To find out more about Yorkshire Air Ambulance pop up charity shop and for opening times, please keep an eye on Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s social media channels – Yorkshire Air Ambulance on Facebook and @yorkshireairamb on Twitter or call the charity office on 01422 237900.
Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) serves 5 million people across Yorkshire and carries out over 1,300 missions every year. The Charity operates two, state-of-the-art Airbus H145 helicopters and needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives