Tower Lotteries have teamed up with Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance in an aim to raise the additional money needed to ensure that they can provide 24-hour cover, 7 days a week throughout the two counties they serve.
At present, it costs £2.5m to run their helicopter and rapid response vehicle, with operating hours being between 7am and 7pm Monday to Thursday and 24 hours for the remaining 3 days. However, the aim is to increase the operation to 24/7 every day before the end of the year.
In order to achieve this, operating costs will increase to £4m and Tower Lotteries have teamed up with the charity to boost lottery income in order to bridge this financial gap. Income from the lottery, which traditionally hasn’t been a priority, makes up 22% of the charity’s revenue, however this is low in comparison to other air ambulances and now Tower Lotteries have been tasked with increasing this percentage.
Membership of the LNAA lifesaving lottery has increased by over 50% in the last 12 months, however the task is now to repeat that over the next 2 years and provide the additional monies that will fill the extra £1.5m needed to increase the operating hours and allow the charity to come to the aid of people more frequently in their hour of need.
Fundraisers representing the charity visited headquarters in Bracebridge Heath recently and were told about the plans to go 24/7 before the end of the year. This will be dependant on the number of new members recruited by those people present, but we are all eager to succeed as the impact and benefit to the people of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire will be huge.
If you are interested in working for the charity, contact Tower Lotteries East Midlands Area Manager Martin Godfrey on 07540 943536 or e-mail martin@towerlotteries.com.
