Nearly one hundred children were at Nutgrove Shopping Centre last night to welcome Santa Claus and his two elves to the Bóthar Christmas Grotto which will be open throughout the lead-up to Christmas.
Nutgrove Shopping Centre has kindly donated this year’s Santa’s Grotto to the Irish charity in a bid to help them raise the urgently needed funds to airlift Irish livestock and other animals to 6,000 of the world’s poorest families through their Christmas Appeal.
Bóthar has launched a Christmas Catalogue, which is now available at Nutgrove Shopping Centre Grotto, from which the public can choose to make donations from as little as €10 for a share in a snail farm for families in Cameroon right up to €5,000 for the Bóthar Global Village Gift – which will support 17 impoverished families.
Bóthar Chief Executive David Moloney said that the addition of a Bóthar Christmas Gift store and Sanata’s grotto at the Nutgrove Shopping Centre adds a valuable dimension to this year’s Christmas appeal. “Christmas is a hugely important time for Bóthar as it accounts for more than half of the total funds that we raise in each year. We hope that we will be able to collect even more donations through the pop-up Christmas Gift Store and visits to Santa’s Grotto.”
Between now and Christmas Eve, more than 1,000 children from South County Dublin are expected to come to meet Santa at the Bóthar Grotto, which will feature the charity’s first ever pop-up Christmas Gift Store.
Visits to Santa are free-of-charge and each child will receive a special little gift as a momento of their visit. Should parents wish, a printed photo is available for a small donation of €5 to Bóthar.
‘Nutgrove are delighted to be partnering with Bóthar for this venture. Bóthar is such a worthy organisation, we really admire their hands-on practical solution and the way that they empower poor families to break out of the cycle of poverty that those in the developing world are born into. We were more than happy to donate the space and the gifts so that all proceeds from donations collected at Santa’s grotto will be going directly to Bóthar and will be assisting them in their important work with starving families in the developing world” said Sean Aylward, Centre Manager, Nutgrove Shopping Centre.
While the children meet Santa and whisper their Christmas wish-lists into his ear, their parents will also be given the opportunity to help another family by purchasing a Christmas Bóthar gift from the pop-up store.
“The pop-up store, which features Bóthar merchandise and gifts from our annual Christmas Catalogue, is a great way for people to donate themselves or donate on behalf of others by making a gift their present to a loved one.” continued Mr Moloney.
The Bóthar Christmas Gift store will be open at Nutgrove Shopping Center 7 days a week , while Santa will be available in his Grotto to meet children Fridays from 2pm – 5pm, Saturdays from 10am – 5pm and Sundays from 1pm – 5pm.
Ends.
For further information on the Bóthar Christmas Gift Shop and info on visiting Santa please contact Ken Copeland on 01 498 1888 or e-mail ken@bothar.ie
About Bothar.
Bóthar is the international development agency, which provides poverty stricken families with the means to solve their problems – permanently.
We do this by using livestock in development aid. Bóthar works with a wide variety of animals including cows, goats, chickens, camels, pigs, fish and bees. Bóthar is working with 16 species of livestock in 35 countries, in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. The Bóthar world headquarters is in Limerick and our other Irish offices are in Cork, Dublin, Belfast and Sligo.