Festive fundraising with the Reindeer Rush

Throughout December we visited 24 local schools and nurseries with our Reindeer Rush activities, where 3,500 children learnt about the work of the Hospice and raised over £13,000 so far.

In partnership with YorkMix, our Fundraising Team hosted assemblies and fun, sponsored activities, with guest star Lenny Bear. There was a touch of extra sparkle for the children to enjoy this year with our new snow machine! We visited schools from Sherburn to Stamford Bridge, Pickering to Pocklington, Tockwith to Tadcaster, and everywhere in between, with several of the children mentioning that it had been the best day of their lives.

At St Mary’s CE Primary School in Askham Richard, they raised £1,000 alone. Teacher Angela Holliday had organised the Reindeer Rush in her school as her mum, Jean, was cared for by St Leonard’s in December 2022.

“I wanted to do everything I could to help the St Leonard’s team, who supported not just my mum, but also several other friends, family members and also members and relatives of the school community.

“I wanted to raise money for St Leonards, and also to enable the children to be involved in a fun, Christmas event that challenged them physically, where they could be part of the positive message of doing something at Christmas time for the good of others. The children, parents and staff have all taken this on board and have been so supportive of their children taking part.”

See how the Reindeer Rush went at St Mary’s School in our Facebook video.

Well done and thank you to all the children, staff and parents at all the schools and nurseries, for getting involved and helping raise a fantastic amount to help us continue our care of patients and their families when they need us most.