Shopping centres provide a place to do good deeds – hundreds of events, exhibitions and charity campaigns every year
Sponda’s centrally located shopping centres attract millions of visitors every year. They offer perfect facilities and a high level of visibility to players that promote the common good.
In the Ratina shopping centre in Tampere, volunteers working for the Hope foundation are hanging notes with the Christmas present wishes of underprivileged children on a Christmas tree. The Salvation Army’s Christmas Kettle charitable campaign also started on 14 December, and people can make a donation until 24 December.
At the same time in the Forum shopping centre in Helsinki, Central Park Junior Chamber (JCI) from Helsinki is organising their Joulupuu campaign. People coming to the shopping centre can also admire the Christmas window of the Plan International Finland humanitarian organisation in the glass corner of Forum and make their contribution there.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there are more people in need, but people are also more willing to help.
Both Ratina’s marketing manager Heidi Pitkämäki and Forum and Citycenter’s marketing manager Annaliina Vekkeli think that the most important thing is continuity when it comes to charity work at Christmas.
“We have Christmas fundraising campaigns in our shopping centres every year, and our customers are accustomed to them. The better people are familiar with the campaigns, the better they will succeed. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there are more people in need, but people are also more willing to help,” says Vekkeli.
Activities, information and culture for people
Millions of people visit Sponda’s shopping centres annually. According to Vekkeli, the shopping centres enable charity work and contribute to it in the background. Selected partners have access to suitable facilities and gain wide visibility.
“We are a neutral media channel and a platform that gives voice to players promoting the common good. In addition, it is possible to organise communal events in our premises and facilities.”
There have not been so many free events during the Covid-19 pandemic, compared with previous years when the number of events has amounted to hundreds. In 2019, different kinds of events were held in Ratina alone on nearly 90 days.
The charity events held in shopping centres are typically free concerts, holiday activities for school children, sports, cultural or science events and promotions by different kinds of charity organisations, such as UNICEF and the Red Cross.
In addition, shopping centres organise every year different kinds of theme days, like the Baltic Sea Day and Red Nose Day, and educational institutions and leisure groups present their operations there.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, shopping centres have started to pay even more attention to families with children. The shopping centres Ratina and Elo opened new play areas in the summer, and Ratina has supported families by organising holiday activities for school children, offering families free child care services and having a music class and a family club held by the church every week.
Luckily, they had time to have the popular Joulunavaus event in Ratina before the second Covid-19 wave hit.
“We want our shopping centre to be a meeting point that brings people together to do fun things and discover interesting information. In this digitalising world, more and more people can feel lonely. In addition, different kinds of circumstances can create a need to interact with people. The Covid-19 pandemic has also increased the value of community and the need for it,” says Pitkämäki.
Safe shopping
According to Sponda’s sustainability manager Pirkko Airaksinen, organising events actively in cooperation with other players is a way of taking societal responsibility. The significance of safety has also increased during the pandemic.
“One of our focus points related to social responsibility is to maintain our facilities healthy and safe, and in this we want to set the benchmark. All our shopping centres have been issued the Covid-19 Compliant certificate. It ensures that both our personnel and our customers can safely spend time in our premises despite the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The Covid-19 Compliant certificate ensures that it is safe to spend time in our shopping centres during the pandemic too.
The exceptional period has also been taken into account when selecting partners and current themes.
“Covid-19 has made people’s everyday lives difficult in many ways. This year, we have highlighted themes related to mental health and homelessness more strongly than previously. When we organise activities for special groups, we always cooperate with partners who know their needs very precisely,” says Airaksinen.
Every Christmas, Sponda contributes to doing good deeds by donating money to a charity chosen by the staff. This Christmas, they chose to support the New Children’s Hospital.
“Through the donation, we want to support the valuable work carried out at the hospital and families with sick children,” says Airaksinen.
Every Christmas, Sponda contributes to doing good deeds by donating money to a charity chosen by the staff. This Christmas, they chose to support the New Children’s Hospital.
The sustainability manager wants to remind people that in this exceptional holiday season it is even more important than before to take care of one’s own and our loved ones’ wellbeing. Restrictions concerning moving around and gathering together can help us see that even very small deeds can contribute to the Christmas spirit.
“You can get into the Christmas spirit by making a donation to a charity campaign or by offering to buy groceries for someone else.”
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