GALLERY: Croydon students get visit from Santa at Palace for Life Christmas Grotto
Last week, we put on a very special Santa’s Grotto for local school children whose families are affected by the continuing cost of living crisis.
50 children and their families visited the stadium last Friday for a chance to meet our very own Palace for Life Santa and his elves.
The students from a school not far from the stadium came to Selhurst Park in the morning and walked into our majestic grotto, dutifully built by our hard-working elves the day before. Each child got their own present and then played a number of different games and crafts with our staff and Crystal Palace Women stars Natalia Negri, Keira Barry and Lucy Watson.
In addition to our Christmas Foodbank Appeal, our Christmas Grotto is another way that we’re trying to do all we can to support local families this Christmas. Each child who attended the grotto received a present, and their family received a £20 ALDI voucher to help with any grocery needs in the lead up to Christmas.
The stark reality of the cost of living crisis continues to affect many families nationwide, but particularly in areas of deprivation, like many of the areas we operate in. In 2021 and into 2022, 30.3% of children were living in poverty in Croydon alone, that’s nearly 29,654 children.
If Palace fans want to help support more local families at Christmas, they can bring along some items to our next two upcoming home matches against Brighton (21st December) and Brentford (30th December), where our staff will be collecting food items as part of our Christmas Foodbank Appeal. We will be collecting donations in the Fanzone anytime before kick off at both matches.
We are also collecting financial donations that will go towards our Holiday, Activities and Food programme, which offers free hot meals and sporting activities to children who are on free school meals.
To for more information on our Christmas Foodbank Appeal and how to donate, head here. If you would like to make an online donation to our Christmas Appeal, head here.