Neville Funeral Service, one of the region’s longest established businesses, has chosen Autism Bedfordshire as its charity of the year.
The business, which has eight branches across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, tries to maintain strong links to its local communities and often raises money for its charities and sponsors grassroots events, festivals and fayres throughout the year.
Autism Bedfordshire, an independent charity which has been running for more than 25 years, is dedicated to helping improve the lives of children, young people and adults with autism and their families. The organisation provides a range of services including: social activity and skills groups supported by specialist staff and volunteers; a helpline service; training courses for parents and carers; and autism awareness training for professionals.
Staff from Neville Funeral Service have already started fundraising for the charity and a calendar of events is being planned for the year ahead, and the Neville teams are also accepting donations for Autism Bedfordshire’s charity shops in Bedford and Dunstable.
Vicky Trumper, director at Neville Funeral Service, said: “We are delighted to announce that Autism Bedfordshire is our corporate charity for 2019. This year, we wanted to support a local charity which makes a significant contribution to the local community. Autism Bedfordshire provides a vital service for children, young people and adults with autism, and their families, and we look forward to raising as much money as possible.
“We have lots of great fundraising events in the pipeline and we’re encouraging all of our team and customers to get involved.”
Emma Reade, CEO of Autism Bedfordshire, added: “We’re delighted to welcome Neville Funeral Service as one of our local corporate supporters. Over 26% of the individuals and families we support are from the Luton area, which means that all funds raised by the team will go towards helping people in their local community.
“We’re thrilled to be affiliated with a family-run business and a trusted and respected company. We’re certain this will be an enjoyable and successful partnership and we’re looking forward to working together.”
Neville Funeral Service raised more than £5,000 for Medical Detection Dogs over the last two years. Fundraising events included car boot sales, Christmas e-cards, a hamper raffle, Grand National and World Cup sweepstakes and a half-marathon.
