Local insurer’s support for LIVES and Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance helps build community resilience

Staff at the branch office of NFU Mutual in Horncastle recently nominated local charities LIVES and Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance to receive a donation of £3,189.50 each from NFU Mutual’s national £1.92million ‘Agency Giving Fund’.

The leading rural insurer has launched this fund, now in its third year, to help local frontline charities across the country. The Agency Giving Fund forms part of NFU Mutual’s £3.25m funding pledge for both local and national charities in 2022, to help tackle the ongoing effects of the pandemic and assist with recovery.

To ensure these donations reach all corners of the UK and are directed where they’re needed most, NFU Mutual’s Agents and NFU Mutual local branches, with over 295 offices nationwide, have been given the opportunity to nominate local charities to receive a share of the fund.

This donation will go towards LIVES’ ambitious Defibrillator Programme, to support the charity in introducing the latest available technology to their Responder’s kitbag to ensure they have the best equipment to support patients in need of urgent help when they dial 999 in a medical emergency. This is a mammoth fundraising effort that will save many lives in every community across our county.

The donation to Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance will help keep the iconic helicopter flying and saving lives, delivering an enhanced level of pre-hospital critical to patients at the scene, giving people with the most severe injuries and medical conditions the very best chance of survival when minutes matter. With the crews on call 24 hours a  day, 365 days a  year, the highly skilled doctors, paramedics , and pilots are there to help people across Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, involved in life-threatening incidents every single day.

Gemma Shaw, Head of Fundraising at LIVES said: “We’re enormously thankful to the Horncastle Agency of NFU Mutual for nominating our charity to receive a donation from the NFU Mutual Agency Giving Fund. The money has gone a long way to helping us equip our volunteer Emergency First Responders, Doctors, Paramedics , and Nurses with a new generation of defibrillators that has the power to transform how we respond to medical emergencies, and train for them.”

Karen Jobling, Chief Executive Officer of Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance said: “The increase in the number of incidents we attend is a stark reminder of the need for this life-saving charity.  And the team knows that without the support of local people, they would not be able to deliver such a dedicated and life-saving service. We are enormously thankful to the Horncastle Agency of NFU Mutual for nominating our charity to receive this wonderful donation of £3,189.50 from the NFU Mutual Agency Giving Fund. This generosity will help to fund one mission for our helicopter or Critical Care Car. Together with rising costs, especially in the cost of fuel, the amount needed to keep this life-saving charity operational for this year is now set to top £8 million with each mission costing on average £4,000.”

LIVES responded to over 11,000 emergency calls last year. From breathing difficulties to cardiac arrests, road traffic collisions to industrial accidents. Every one of these calls are funded by the generosity of our local communities. Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance receives no regular direct funding from the Government. It needs to raise £8 million this year to deliver its life-saving service every hour of the day. It is thanks to the generosity and goodwill of supporters throughout Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire that they can provide such a critical care service.

For more information about your local NFU Mutual branch in (insert location), visit www.nfumutual.co.uk/agent-offices-horncastle