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This is our 7th year delivering our free, fully accessible Santa Grotto Bus with the team from Stagecoach Slatyford. It has been in Newcastle City Centre across two weekends as well as on the road visiting SEND schools in between.
Today we want to highlight why our Santa Bus is so important, and how needed it is in our region.
COST
The cost of a ‘traditional’ Santa’s Grotto in Newcastle ranges from £15 – £20. This cost is per child and there’s sometimes a charge for adults, too. For families with multiple children, they could be spending £100 for one activity.
The North East has some of the highest levels of poverty in the UK, and for many families the cost of festive activities are simply out of their budget.
All visits to the Santa Grotto Bus are completely free, and all children receive a small gift plus the opportunity to get a photo with Santa.
ACCESS AND INCLUSION
Unlike many standard grottos, the Santa Bus is fully accessible with plenty of space for wheelchairs, walkers, buggies and prams.
Not only is the bus accessible in terms of mobility, but the team welcome and accommodate all needs and ages.
The Sunshine Fund’s purpose is to support children living with disabilities, additional needs and terminal illness in the North East. Their primary provision is funding life-changing and often specialist equipment that is unavailable on the NHS.
The team recognise that for some, this type of experience can be overwhelming and overstimulating, and they will accommodate this as best they can. The aim of the Santa Bus is to create a welcoming environment and by keeping it free, they can try it risk-free.
No booking is required for the Santa Bus which means that a family isn’t tied to a specific timeslot that could be missed if their child doesn’t want to go. And by keeping it free to all, it means that if they’re unsure, they can try it out the big expense.
Between the two weekends, the charity and Stagecoach have been visiting local SEND schools, because they believe everyone should get the opportunity to meet Santa.
Shaun Anderson, Duty Manager at Stagecoach Slatyford, says, “When we plan school visits, we contact them ahead of the visit to find out how many children we are likely to see on the day. We also ask for number that can receive a selection box, those with dietary needs and any that are classed as nil by mouth.”
“Across the 3 schools we are visiting we will likely see 579 children. Every child that see's Santa on our grotto bus will receive a gift due to the incredible generosity of Stagecoach staff.”
“Apart from 15 selection boxes which were donated by B&M at St James Retail Park and 30 donated by Tesco Kingston Park, the rest of the donations have come from our staff. It makes me truly proud to be a manager with such a generous workforce.”.
COMMUNITY
The Santa Bus isn’t designed to make money for the charity, and while we're committed to keeping their grotto experience free for all, we do welcome and encourage donations. These can be made both at the bus, or online at https://bit.ly/sunshine-xmas.
All donations raised around Christmas will be used to fund the specialist equipment that has been applied for in November – totalling almost £40,000.
These donations are needed now more than ever; Stagecoach usually run on-the-bus collections alongside the Santa Bus, which raise upwards of £10,000 each Christmas.
However, the company have had to make the difficult decision to remove these from their services following a break-in that saw one person steal the contents of the buckets, meaning the charity are looking to plug that funding gap.
Our Head of Charity, David Wilson, said, “Slatyford staff do everything they can to support us at Christmas, and every year their support makes a huge difference to local disabled children and their families.
This break-in isn’t just disappointing for all the staff, it’s the customers who donate on buses every day who want to support these children who now can’t because of one person’s selfish actions.”.