Yorkshire charities received a boost when leasing giant Zenith cancelled its Christmas party and took the opportunity to raise funds for charity.

The food for over 600 people was donated to the food redistribution charity FareShare, and pre-paid drinks of 300 bottles of wine and 500 bottles of beer are to be raffled with proceeds going to MIND, the company’s charity of the year. While hotel rooms were offered to employees for a charity donation.

Zenith’s efforts will raise thousands of pounds for the charities, commenting on the fundraising, Stuart Price, chief people officer at Zenith, said: “While we are disappointed that we can’t enjoy the season’s festivities with our colleagues, they understood our decision to cancel, and collectively wanted to turn it into something positive to benefit others. Everyone worked together to help these charities that are doing vital work. We chose MIND as our charity of the year because of the fantastic work they do in Yorkshire and around the country.”

Zenith also supported Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day with a £2 per person donation to wear a jumper and are running the reverse advent calendar initiative, where colleagues donate items to local food banks and homeless charities.