Family Business United and Plan Insurance have teamed up to make a difference to the lives of the homeless this Christmas.

Paul Andrews, Founder of Family Business United is clear about the purpose, adding "We spend all year championing the family business sector, a sector that would not exist without the families behind the businesses, and it seemed a logical fit when looking for a cause to support the homeless. In many cases, family support networks, for whatever reason, have broken down, and people move away to find a better future and sadly things don't work out as planned. We wanted to make sure that through our campaign this year that we can make a difference and provide some comfort to those that are not surrounded by family and love this year."

Plan Insurance are a market leader in the provision of taxi insurance across the UK and Family Business United have teamed up with them to spend a week driving a sponsored taxi around the UK, visiting a number of family firms to collect gifts and donations that can enhance the lives of those supported by this campaign.

Items being donated for the campaign that is taking place from 4-9 December include toiletries, foods, sleeping bags, warm clothes and blankets. In keeping with the family theme, all of the goods are being donated by family businesses.

Plan Insurance are delighted to be supporting the campaign and looking forward to visiting some great family businesses during the week too. Sales and Marketing Director at Plan Insurance, Grant Georgiades added, "This campaign is something that really resonates with us as a family, and as a family business, and it will be great to make a difference, especially at a time of the year that is all about family too."

All of the funds donated will be used to provide comfort, clothes and sleeping bags to the homeless this year.

Get involved:

- Make a donation. Every penny counts even the cost of a cup of coffee!

- Host an office event such as a Christmas Jumper day and ask each member of staff to make a donation and then donate if to the cause, but remember to take a photo of the team first and share it on twitter using the hashtag #FamBizSantaDash so we can share it too!

- Send us some warm clothes, blankets or sleeping bags that we can provide direct to the charity on the ground to make an instant impact. Get in touch if you want to send things and we can provide all of the details.

- As little as £30 can provide a brand new sleeping bag to someone on the streets!

We appreciate that there are lots of charity initiatives around this time of year and that you cannot help them all but we would welcome your support as we try and make a real difference and show those less fortunate that us that people do care. Every penny helps and if you can provide some pennies we would appreciate it!