A company that has kept older people safe in social housing across the UK for two decades has marked its 20th anniversary by planting 20,000 trees in the Lake District.
Alertacall was founded by CEO James Batchelor in 2004 to help meet the needs of his own independent relatives.
Today, tens of thousands of people across the UK benefit from Alertacall’s services, which include a touch screen that enables housing providers to have better two-way contact with older people and a service called OKEachDay, which provides daily contact from a specially trained team. It also helps other higher-needs groups and families.
The company employs around 100 people at offices in Windermere and Kendal, as well as Warrington.
To mark its 20th anniversary, Alertacall has teamed up with Buy Land Plant Trees CIC, which has been planting trees in the Lake District National Park since 2020.
The company is planning to plant a total of 100,000 trees over the coming years so that there will be at least one to represent each of its customers.
James met Sally Phillips, founder of Buy Land Plant Trees, at a Buckingham Palace reception for winners of The Queen’s Award For Enterprise in 2022, James for Alertacall and Sally for her business, Chimney Sheep.
“We got talking and I was immediately inspired by Sally’s ambition to make a long-lasting impact by planting hundreds of thousands of trees which will benefit the environment for generations to come,” says James.
“Alertacall is a business with long-term ambitions to keep growing and to benefit more and more customers across the UK. We want to do everything we can to help people and the environment as we go.
“As a business with our roots in the beautiful Lake District, donating the trees is a fantastic way to mark our anniversary and I am looking forward to helping plant many more in the future.”
Sally said: “So many animals, insects and plants depend on trees and for us it’s about restoring the woodland that used to grow in the national park and future-proofing the landscape so they will be here for centuries to come.
“It’s not just about trees being beautiful, it’s about climate change and carbon sequestration and flood mitigation and providing that protection far into the future.
“100,000 trees is a really ambitious target and we are looking forward to working with Alertacall over the coming years to create forests of the future together.”
