Kind-hearted visitors at The Centre, Livingston have helped raise a total of £18,985.54 for its charity partner, Children’s Hospices Across Scotland, (CHAS), which it has continued to support around the festive period since 2022, hosting various events, including the recent first-ever Elf School.
The charity, which has been supporting babies, children and young people with life-shortening conditions and their families for over 30 years, has also been gifted free pop-up space in the shopping centre to host their own fundraising and awareness events and marketing support.
CHAS is the only charity providing children’s hospice services in the country. They have two hospices, one in Rachel House in Kinross and Robin House in Balloch on the edge of Loch Lomond. The hospices provide palliative and end-of-life care, as well as respite for the entire family, in a home-from-home environment and counselling support for families.
The aim is to help give children the freedom to be themselves, to play outside, laugh, sparkle, smile and have treasured moments of joy, and spend precious time with their loved ones to create special memories.
Over the years shoppers have also kindly donated funds at the mall’s first-ever space-themed event in October last year, a movie night, Elf Walks and fashion events.
Shoppers who enjoyed free visits to see Santa in December also kindly donated to the charity.
Zhenya Dove, Community Fundraiser at CHAS, said: “We are so grateful to everyone at The Centre, Livingston and to the entire community for their incredible support over the festive season.
“Your generosity brings light into the uncertainty many families in our care have to live with.
“It gives them a chance to make memories they will treasure forever. That joy happens because of you. Thank you for helping us fill not just the holidays, but the entire year with moments worth remembering.”
Patrick Robbertze, Centre Director at The Centre, Livingston, said: “CHAS is an incredible charity doing amazing work to help children and their families to create magical moments together at such a difficult time in their lives.
“We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped us to raise this fantastic amount of money over the years, including our visitors, retailers and our team, to ensure they can continue to help even more children and their families.”
