The Whitehaven community have raised approximately £50,000 for the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) from clothing collections.
Jordan Mattinson, 32, first started organising collections of unwanted clothing in 2020, during the covid-19 pandemic, and utilised the Whitehaven Rugby Club to store the donations.
Over 10 tonnes of clothing was accumulated during the first collection, and this spurred Jordan on to continue hosting collections to support his local air ambulance service.
He said: “The feeling on seeing the clothes build up on the first collection was unbelievable, there were convoys of cars coming to drop off what they classed as unwanted items which gradually filled up the rugby club.”
Over the last five years clothing collections have been held at Whitehaven RUFC and Hensingham ARLFC, with members from both clubs helping out on the days.
Jordan said: “Without them it wouldn’t be possible, we’ve always had an abundance of helpers on every donation day we’ve done.
“It shows how much the local community values the service of GNAAS.”
Following their latest collection day in May, the total raised for the charity is approximately £50,000.
Jordan said: “We really appreciate everyone who’s donated over the last few years and anyone who’s shared the social media and news posts so people see when the collections are.
“GNAAS is a service that we hope we will never need, but if you do, you’d like to know it’s there. With it not being government funded, it’s crucial that donations like this carry on to make sure they can keep running this life-saving service.
“We’ll keep doing the drop off days and hopefully we can turn that £50,000 into £100,000 and more over the next few years.”
To book in a clothing collection fill in this form on our website, message us on our Facebook page, or call 01325 308 139.
Donations can also be dropped off on-site at GNAAS’ headquarters in the North East, which is Progress House, Urlay Nook Road, Eaglescliffe, TS16 0QB.
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