A busy festive period for ELF

The festive period is always an incredibly busy time for the ELF Team, and December 2022 was no exception. A huge thank you to everyone who supported ELF with a donation, by purchasing our Christmas cards, by taking part in a fundraising activity or by visiting our shops when choosing presents.

December started with supporters taking part in the Exeter Santa Run. Families, individuals and Stoke Hill Boys U12 Football Team all ran in the 2.5k and 5k races in aid of ELF, raising a brilliant £838 in sponsorship for their efforts. There's nothing quite like watching the High Street full of running Santas to bring a smile to your face!

Throughout the month, we had an army of volunteers take part in multiple bucket collections across the region. At supermarkets, farm shops, concerts and garden centres, ELF volunteers gave up their time to collect donations in support of blood cancer patients in Devon. Thank you to everyone who stopped to chat and donate: our collections in Barnstaple, Crediton, Exeter and Exmouth raised a mighty £2,152.94.

Christmas is also a time for choirs, music and carols, and we were fortunate to have several groups perform in aid of our charity this year. Long-time ELF supporters River City Chorus performed carols at Greendale Farm and Tesco Exeter, Exeter Guitar Club entertained Christmas shoppers in Exeter's Guildhall Shopping Centre whilst the Cantilena Choir held a carol concert for all to enjoy. Collectively, the groups raised a brilliant £945 for ELF.

Finally, the pupils of Teignmouth Community School, Mill Lane, not only created the decorations for this year's ELF Tree as part of the Princesshay Christmas Tree Festival. They also wrote festive messages for patients to read on the Haematology Centre noticeboards and created handmade cards to be added to our patient gift bags. The bags are created by ELF each December to be distributed to those patients staying on the ward over Christmas and contain a few treats and essentials. The Yarty team delivered them to the ward on Christmas morning and we hope that they raised a smile for those spending Christmas away from home.