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Santa’s Toy Factory doubles fundraising total for 2018
Santa’s Toy Factory at South Downs Nurseries has raised more than £22,000 for charity, a massive increase from last year’s total of £11,025. The funds raised by The Budding Foundation charity, who run the grotto at South Downs Nurseries, will all be spent on local projects.
Clive Gravett who set up the charity said, “ The response has been phenomenal and thanks to a new online booking system, we’ve been able to increase the number of children visiting Santa this year to almost 3,000. On top of this, we challenged every adult who entered the factory for free to donate £1 each if they enjoyed themselves so thank you to everyone who visited and everyone who so generously donated to the charity. We have over 40 volunteer elves who have all given up their time and worked so hard to help us achieve this fantastic figure. The team at South Downs Nurseries have been incredibly supportive, building this wonderful factory for us and donating all the Christmas presents!”
Alongside the grotto ticket sales, The Budding Foundation operated other fundraising activities including a prize draw to win a home visit from Santa raising almost £1,000, a giant teddy raffle which raised £550 and Breakfast with Santa raising another £300. The giant teddy was won by 16 year old Oliver Kemp from Hassocks, and Santa delivered it just in time for Christmas! Santa picked out the winner of the home visit, and also decided to visit 4 other families, making it a special Christmas for many children.
The funds raised are already being spent with £1,650 being donated to Burgess Hill Youth to cover the shortfall in funding for their new minibus, and £130 for a group of disadvantaged children to visit the theatre for the first time. For more information on The Budding Foundation Charity and it’s work in our local community, visit www.thebuddingfoundation.co.uk
