Local Hospice will Benefit from Toyota Staff’s ‘Virtual’ Walk

Staff at Cold Chain Federation member Toyota Material Handling UK Ltd’s Castleford head office are raising money for local charity, Wakefield Hospice, by undertaking a 3920 mile ‘virtual’ walk.

Over a 99-day period the Toyota colleagues will cover the equivalent distance of a trek from Castleford to the company’s three European factories – in Sweden, France and Italy ­– and back to Yorkshire.

Throughout the challenge participants will use mobile ‘phone apps or personal fitness tracker devices to record their steps and each week the distance covered by every person will be added to the team’s 3920 mile (that’s 7,313,670 steps!) target.

Toyota Marketing Executive, Helder Figueiredo, who will be responsible for monitoring his colleagues’ progress, commented: “Toyota is committed to the local community and Wakefield Hospice has been doing great work for more than three decades. We hope colleagues from across the company along with their friends and family will back our team of ‘virtual’ walkers and help us to raise as much as possible for this very worthy cause.”

Wakefield Hospice’s fundraising manager, Keeley Harrison, said: “Wakefield Hospice has been providing care for people with life limiting illnesses for over 30 years and each year we face the daunting prospect of having to raise £4 million. It is only thanks to the generosity of our supporters that we are able to continue to provide high quality end of life care for local people, so we are extremely grateful to Toyota’s team of ‘virtual’ walkers for all of their efforts on our behalf.”

Regular updates on the team’s progress will be issued via social media and anyone wishing to donate to Toyota Castleford’s Virtual Charity Walk can do so by visiting https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/toyota-material-handling-uk