Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity has already received enough chocolate for all the kids who will spend Christmas in hospital
Kids in hospital don’t need more chocolate at Christmas time according to a leading children's hospital charity.
Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC) says it already has enough chocotate for every child that will be in hospital over Christmas, so it is asking people to donate money instead.
Every year the charity ends up with far more chocolate that it knows what to do with, and much of it ends up being wasted.
Sue Diamond, community fundraiser at ECHC, said: “The gesture is so sweet and it’s lovely that the public think about children in hospital over Christmas – that’s exactly what we want to encourage.
“But the reality of the situation is that we just get so much chocolate that it ends up going off or going to waste.
“If the equivalent monetary value was donated to the charity each year, we’d be able to do so much more and put in place experiences, equipment and entertainment that would really last.”
So in a bid to get real coins as opposed to chocolate ones this festive season, ECHC have introduced their selection box with a difference.
The selection box offers the public the chance to donate something that will have a real impact and help relieve stress and worry for seriously ill children and their families this Christmas.
The box features different options designed to provide comfort and support to patients and their families, allowing donators to fund items such as a vibrating Buzzy Bee that disrupts nerve pathways and eases pain for children receiving injections.
Sue added: “What we’re trying to put across with the Selection Box is that we can simply do so much more with financial donations than we can with chocolate.
“Even small amounts of money all add up and can go towards providing fantastic pieces of medical equipment that will transform treatment and stock playrooms throughout the hospital with games, books and arts and crafts that provide a therapeutic distraction.
“We’re so grateful to everyone who gives to ECHC and hope that this Christmas the public can help us make a real difference.”
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 setting.
