Volvo Car UK has teamed up with Father Christmas to help raise £25,000 for Action for Children and deliver Christmas presents to children at its projects at sites throughout the UK.
Father Christmas will be taking the wheel of a Volvo V60 DRIVe R-Design for his tour of the UK and Ireland, which he will use as a practice run ahead of his monumental Christmas present delivery run on the 24th December.
Instead of his normal sleigh being pulled along by reindeer, Father Christmas' mode of transport will be the more powerful, fuel-efficient Volvo V60 DRIVe R-Design. Powered by a 1.6-litre diesel engine (115 horsepower) with a combined cycle fuel economy figure of 62.8 mpg, plus an ample boot load of 1,241 litres (with the rear seats down), it's the perfect 'sleigh' to deliver the presents.
Father Christmas will set out on his journey on Tuesday 13th December and go on a six-day tour, visiting 12 Action for Children projects, delivering presents and taking part in a couple of games along the route.
Volvo Car UK is urging Facebook fans to get into the spirit by entering a festive Facebook competition (www.facebook.com/insidevolvouk) and with every entry Volvo will donate £3 towards its fundraising target. In addition to brightening the Christmas of children across the UK, Facebook users can win their own prizes by guessing where on the map the V60 DRIVe will need to fill up on its journey. Winners will receive four tickets to a Volvo Track Day, where they will experience the handling ability of Volvo's range within the confines and safety of a circuit. Along with track days, there will also be a chance to win an 8gb iPod Touch each day.
"We want all our Facebook fans, and the friends and family of our fans, to enter the competition to make sure that we reach our target and are able to donate as much as possible to this worthy cause. Christmas is all about kids, and we want to do our part in bringing an extra couple of smiles to their faces," says Duncan Forrester, Head of Public Affairs, Events and Sponsorship at Volvo Car UK.
He continued "With such an economical and comfortable car at Father Christmas' disposal, we're not sure if he'll want to go back to his sleigh!"
Action for Children works with over 200,000 children, young people and families across the UK tackling issues including neglect and child abuse. It also offers advice and support to families, while providing ‘drop-in' play sessions and toddler groups for parents and children who have suffered domestic abuse.
Andrew Harris, Director of Fundraising and Appeals at Action for children, said: "Christmas most definitely came early for us when Volvo offered us this generous £25,000 donation and a fantastic Christmas tour of projects around the UK. It's not only a fun and imaginative way of bringing a smile to the faces of some of the children looked after by our projects at Christmas time, but more crucially, it raises much needed funds to allow us to continue to help the most vulnerable and neglected children, young people and families we work with in over 450 local projects across the UK. The children are very excited about the visit from Santa, and the gifts will be enjoyed for a long time to come."
Father Christmas is enjoying some of the highest comfort levels in the V60 DRIVe with the added peace-of-mind that it's Volvo's safest road-going vehicle to date. The S60 and V60 were the world's first cars to offer Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake as an option, as well as City Safety as standard, and they are now joined by the XC60, V70 and S80. With its 1.6 litre turbo-diesel engine, the V60 DRIVe emits just 119g/km, which means not only is it free from first year road tax but it only costs £30 a year every subsequent year.
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About Action for Children
