BUSINESSES in Edinburgh are being urged to help bring an advent calendar to life for children in hospital this Christmas, so that they don’t miss out on the magical time of year.
A well-loved children’s charity is in the midst of planning The Big Christmas Door Appeal – a campaign that will see a different door in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (RHSC) open each day from the 1st-24th December, with something truly special behind each.
From the Scottish Ballet performing the Nutcracker, to a visit from the Hearts and Hibs football teams, Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC) is creating something memorable and entertaining over the festive period for children in hospital.
To make this happen, ECHC is asking businesses across the city to sponsor one of the 24 living advent calendar doors and support the campaign that will help transform Christmas at the RHSC.
Companies that sponsor a door will receive their own full length door vinyl celebrating their involvement in The Big Christmas Door Appeal as well as a number of other benefits.
Amy Ford, Corporate Fundraiser at ECHC, said: “This is the perfect opportunity for the city’s companies to come together and help raise vital funds for ECHC this Christmas – which supports and complements the work of the RHSC as well as other children’s healthcare settings across Scotland.
“The Big Christmas Door Appeal is about providing festive fun and joy for children, young people and their families who will spend the Christmas period in hospital – and, this year, businesses in our city have the power to help make that happen.”
As well as The Big Christmas Door Appeal, there are other ways for businesses to get involved and support the city’s children’s hospital charity this Christmas.
Businesses can lend a hand through a number of volunteering opportunities, from bucket collections at their Christmas choir performances, to supermarket bag packs.
ECHC has also released its Selection Box with a Difference, which encourages business to help fund items and experiences that offer comfort, fun and family togetherness to children and young people in hospital.
The selection box asks include items that offer comfort such as a Buzzy Bee – a clever little piece of kit which takes the pain away from injections; togetherness, by funding two family Christmas movie nights and the gift of fun, helping to stock playrooms with games, arts and therapeutic distractions.
ECHC believe that nothing should get in the way of being a child and exist to transform the experiences of children and young people in hospital, so they can be a child first and a patient second.
The charity works to make sure that children and young people’s lives are less interrupted by illness. It distributes around £1.5 million per year in support of the work of the RHSC and other children’s healthcare settings across Scotland.
For information on how your business can sponsor a door, volunteer or raise money, please contact Amy Ford on 0131 668 4949 or amy.ford@echcharity.org.
Pictures: Rob McDougall
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