Southcentre Mall makes it easy to support charities during the holiday season

Marko, five years old, checks out how his friend Slone, also five, is decorating her cookie in the Cookie Kitchen supporting Made by Momma

A number of local charities are benefiting from partnering with Southcentre Mall over the holiday season by hosting various fundraisers.

Cystic Fibrosis Canada has a gift wrapping station under the escalator on the north side of the mall near the Starbucks. The booth is operated by volunteers who make it easy for shoppers to leave the mall with beautifully-wrapped presents.

Jeanette Demers-Weir, from Cystic Fibrosis Canada, says it's a big fundraiser for the agency across the country which typically raises around  $30,000 in Calgary.

"Especially with the postal strike, people can't get the funds into us, they don't know how to get the cheques in," she said. "So this is one way you can support Cystic Fibrosis Canada, come out here, get your gifts wrapped and you can leave a donation behind and it's a win win situation."

Demers-Weir said there is a guideline for people to donate three dollars for a small gift, five for a medium-sized gift and eight dollars for a large present.

"I find people probably are more generous than not," she said. "We love that suggested pricing because some people really are struggling with what to donate and so it just gives them a guideline."

All funds received go towards research and programs for Cystic Fibrosis.

50-year history of giving back to community

Southcentre Mall general manager Abigail Alfonso  said the mall has a 50-year history of giving back to the community.

She said making it easy for shoppers to donate during the holiday season is a benefit to charities.

"Just this year alone I know that we have helped raise over $1.5 million for those charities that we've supported this year," she said. "So we know that this is really important for them and the push this season and for the holiday season is really impactful."

For the third year in a row, Giving Machines are back at the mall December 6th to the 29th.

They're hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and are a unique way to support five local charities and two international ones.

"We live in a world where everything's digital," said Alex Andrews, the Giving Machines committee co-chair. "Whereas I can go online and I can just send $20 here or $5 here whereas that experience of something tangible where you walked up and get to interact with a machine, I think that uniqueness makes it quite fun but also an intimate experience to give."

Andrews said 100 per cent of the funds raised in the machines goes directly to help the charities of a donor's choice.

In 2023 the machines saw 6,000 donations which Andrews estimates helped more than 100,000 people.

"I think if you look at what's happened economically around the world, the need is even more," he said. "Not only from the needs within the community, but also just the funding and support that the charities alone have received has also diminished and so the need for every organization and charity to not only strengthen their resources but also the support that they're seeing has increased as well."

The mall also has a Cookie Kitchen supporting Made by Momma where children can decorate their own cookies and it's also partnered with Autism Calgary to offer sensory friendly 'peace of mind' visits with Santa.