Springhill Hospice, RSPCA Rochdale and Petrus shortlisted to benefit from Exchange grotto proceeds

Rochdale Exchange donated £3,400 from last year's Santa’s Grotto to Rochdale Moorland Children’s Home

Springhill Hospice, RSPCA Rochdale and Petrus have been shortlisted to be in with a chance to benefit from the money raised at Rochdale Exchange’s Christmas grotto throughout December.

The three charities, that provide vital services in the borough, have been chosen as the final three of the shopping centre’s search, after more than 650 people nominated an organisation.

From Friday 2 December to Friday 3 December, shoppers and grotto-goers will get the chance to choose which charity they would like to see receive the proceeds. The voting will be completed via three token boxes in the centre and the organisation with the most tokens will receive the funds.

Springhill Hospice first opened in 1989 on Broad Lane in Rochdale and is a purpose-built facility offering specialist palliative care to people with life-limiting illnesses.

Sarah Ford, Income Services Manager at Springhill Hospice, said: “We are so pleased to have been shortlisted in the centre’s search for a Christmas charity.

“We couldn’t believe how many people had chosen Springhill Hospice.

“Receiving the funds from the grotto would directly benefit our patients, their families and carers.”

RSPCA Rochdale is a self-funded branch of the UK’s leading animal charity, which is responsible for raising money locally to support the running of its 24-hour animal centre.

Jean Spencer, RSPCA Rochdale Animal Centre Manager, said: “To be shortlisted to be Rochdale Exchange’s Christmas charity is excellent news.

“When it comes to animals the people of Rochdale are extremely generous, which is why we feel so proud to be able to run the Animal Centre for vulnerable animals.

“The funds from the shopping centre’s annual grotto would be a huge benefit to RSPCA Rochdale, as we would be able to continue offering vital services in order to rehabilitate and re-home as many abused and neglected animals as possible.”

Petrus has been working to provide supported housing and services to homeless people in the Borough of Rochdale, including Heywood, Middleton, Rossendale and Oldham, since 1972.

Deputy Coordinator, Philip Foster, said: “We are extremely thankful to Rochdale Exchange and its shoppers for nominating us to be its Christmas charity this year.

“Here at Petrus we believe that everyone should have access too safe, secure and quality housing and with the Santa’s grotto proceeds we will be able to focus on our three main projects – Petrus Housing, which manages a range of housing services in the area, Petrus Step Up, for getting homeless people of the street and Petrus People, involving our community store.”

Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre manager, Lorenzo O’Reilly said: “Last year we managed to raise more than £3,400 from the Santa’s Grotto, which we donated to Rochdale Children’s Moorland Home. So this year we wanted to open up the selection to the Rochdale community and find out which charities are close to their hearts.

“Throughout the nominations process we received an unbelievable response from our shoppers, with 671 nominations for more than 50 charities.

“Rochdale Exchange is an integral part of the town’s community and as a team we really enjoy being involved in the town’s activities and giving back to our shoppers. As a result, we felt it was extremely important that the Christmas charity chosen is local to the area, so we are glad that Springhill Hospice, RSPCA Rochdale and Petrus have made our shortlist.

“From the 2 December we will be encouraging families visiting Santa and shoppers at Rochdale Exchange to pick up a token and vote for one of the three charities to receive the grotto proceeds,.

“We would like to wish our shortlisted organisations the best of luck and we look forward to announcing our Christmas charity soon.”