One of Glasgow's most popular shopping destinations has pledged to donate all the money from visits to its Santa's Grotto to buy gifts for local children in need.
The St. Enoch Centre has teamed up with local charity Glasgow’s Spirit of Christmas to raise much-needed funds and gift donations to children in need across Glasgow and the surrounding areas.
To help the charity, which aims to help the over 35,000 children in the city who are believed to be living in poverty, the city centre mall confirmed it will be donating the full £10 ticket price for its 'Meet Santa' grotto to the charity.
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Children visiting the grotto will get to write and post their Christmas letters before meeting Santa and receiving a gift, while the money paid for their ticket will go to help those children in need.
With the cost of living crisis driving many families into financial hardship, the number of children in poverty is set to increase resulting in many thousands of children not receiving gifts this Christmas.
Glasgow’s Spirit of Christmas aims to prevent this. Founded in 2014, GSOC provides gifts for children in Glasgow affected by hardship or living in poverty. In the 9 years since its establishment, the charity has donated over £3.2 million worth of gifts to some 90,000 children. Inviting those who can become a ‘Secret Santa’ so that every child is included in Christmas.
Shoppers at the centre will also be encouraged to become Secret Santas and donate gifts to support this year’s appeal. Gift ideas can be found on the Centre’s website to make it as easy as possible for shoppers.
Donations purchased by kind-hearted shoppers whilst in the Centre are welcome from 10 November until 15 December and can be dropped off in the Centre’s Leith Collective store on level 1.
Glasgow’s Spirit of Christmas community members who would like to donate but hasn’t yet pledged a gift through the Christmas Portal can drop them off between 28 November – 15 December.
Founder of Glasgow’s Spirit of Christmas, Julie Griffin, said: "No one can imagine a year without Christmas or a child waking up to no gifts or a visit from Santa which is why we’re so grateful to be working with St Enoch Centre to make a difference for thousands of local referred children this year.
"Becoming a child’s Secret Santa is a wonderful feeling and an opportunity to protect the spirit, hope and magic of Christmas for us all."
Centre director, Anne Ledgerwood, confirmed that Santa’s grotto can be found on Level One near Vue Cinema and will be open at weekends between 26th November and 18th December and then daily between Mon 19th and Friday 23rd December, with pre-booking via the St Enoch Centre website essential.
She added: "Working with Glasgow’s Spirit of Christmas, St. Enoch Centre hopes to bring the magic of Christmas to all households in Glasgow.
"For all shoppers who can, we encourage you to come along and donate a gift to support this year’s appeal to support 19,000 children.
"And for any parents and carers looking to book youngsters a visit to Santa this year, we’re donating 100% of ticket sales to support this amazing charity, meaning a visit to our Santa will help make another child’s Christmas a little bit brighter this year.”
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