Hampshire Air Ambulance facing difficult winter
The life-saving service say they're dipping into reserves after a drop in fundraising.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA) tell us they've seen a huge drop in donations coming into them this year.
In the year to September, the charity was ÂŁ1 million down compared to 2019.
They've now launched a Christmas campaign, to try and boost their income and maintain services.
Chief Executive Alex Lochrane says they are able to keep going for now, but will need support over the winter:
"Because of the generosity of people in years gone by, we have a reserve - and we're eating into that reserve now.
"The operational costs are just over ÂŁ5 million a year but we've got a reserve so we can keep flying and we can keep our teams ready to save lives."
CHRISTMAS APPEAL BEGINS
The charity's asking supporters to donate ÂŁ5 to them in the run-up to the festive season.
They've said that 'due to the totally unpredictable economic effects of Covid-19', they could really do with the financial help.
A video's been put together as part of the campaign:
MIKE AND DOLORES' STORY
Last year, Mike suffered a cardiac arrest while at home in Hampshire with wife, Dolores.
The Air Ambulance's Critical Care Team took an hour of treatment and CPR to eventually get a pulse. Mike said:
"Had it not been for the Critical Care Team responding so quickly, I would not now be looking forward to celebrating Christmas with my wife and family, making plans for the years ahead. I cannot express how thankful we are to the Air Ambulance. I owe them my life."
Chief Executive of HIOWAA, Alex Lockrane says stories like that are common:
"I have been humbled by families who've come to use and said 'thank you for everything you did, it gave us time to say goodbye' and other families have come to us and said 'thank you so much for everything you did because without you we wouldn't be able to make the plans and have the experience that we have now."
WINTER ALWAYS BUSY
The charity say December has become a peak time for them - last year, HIOWAA responded to 195 call-outs, which is 35 more than in the same period the year before.
Alex Lochrane from the service says they'll still be working hard though:
"As everyone is facing up to another lockdown, any maybe, hopefully, fingers crossed, toes crossed, for a bit of a Christmas - our teams will be on duty like they've always been. We don't stop."
If you want to support the campaign, you can visit the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance website.