Teesside Hospice lit coastal roads as around 700 people took part in the 11km walk, which was marshalled by members of local organisations, including 38 volunteers from the Amazon fulfilment centres in Gateshead, Stockton-on-Tees, Darlington and Durham.
Teesside Hospice supports around 3,000 people in Tees Valley each year, with inpatient care, lymphoedema clinics, counselling and wellbeing services available to people in the region. The organisation helps those with life limiting illness make the most of every day, ensuring they receive the best possible care by creating experiences and memories that last a lifetime.
The annual Midnight Walk takes in the coastal route from Redcar to Marske and back. Many of those who took part in the Midnight Walk did so in memory of loved ones who have used the Hospice’s services, as they donned light-up head boppers and wore neon to light up the streets.
Kyla de Lehenstein Collins, Director of Income Generation, at Teesside Hospice, said: “Our Midnight Walk is a really important event in our fundraising calendar It costs £6.5million to run our services every year, and we only receive 25% of this in statutory funding, so raising this total is vital to ensuring we can continue to help the people of Teesside live as well as possible, for as long as possible. But it wouldn’t be possible without our volunteer marshals helping ensure our walkers can safely navigate the route and we are so grateful that all the local Amazon fulfilment centres got behind us and had teams there to support us.”
James Carter, Site Leader at Amazon in Stockton-on-Tees, added: “We are committed to supporting our local communities in a variety of ways, and it was fantastic to be able to come together with our colleagues across the North East to assist Teesside Hospice in such an important event in its calendar. It’s an inspiring event, and always great to be part of.”
Community donations and employee volunteering are just two of the ways Amazon supports the communities where it operates. Amazon co-founded the Multibank initiative with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to support families in need. The Junction Multibank opened this year, with Middlesbrough charity The Junction. The initiative has donated more than 5 million surplus goods to over 500,000 families across Wales, Scotland, Greater Manchester, London, and Tees Valley.
Amazon has supported more than one million students across the UK with free STEM education programmes through Amazon Future Engineer and helps community organisations transport meals and other essentials to families in need through its pro bono logistics programme, Amazon Local Good.
Amazon partners with Comic Relief and is the official home of the charity’s iconic Red Nose. Together with its employees, customers, and partners, Amazon has raised over £4.8 million to fund projects that support people across the UK, and around the world.
You too can support Teesside Hospice - to discuss volunteering opportunities, please contact volunteering@teessidehospice.co.uk or visit www.teessidehospice.org for more information on the charity and its services.