find out more about maggie's in their glasgow pop-up centres this week;

find out more about maggie’s in their glasgow pop-up centres this week;

June 27, 2012 · by · in ,

It’s a sad fact, but in tough economic times charitable giving tends to be one of the first things to go. Of course most of us want to help, but there are some many good causes out there you often just have to pick one over another. Sometimes that’s a straightforward value judgement and sometimes it’s a question of awareness. The trouble, I suppose, is that only the better-off charities can afford some of the better awareness-raising techniques. It’s one of the reasons (aside from personal experience, obviously) that so-called “charity muggers” make me uncomfortable. That and their seeming inability to take “no” for an answer (but it’s just a text message/five minutes of your time/the price of a pint! You drink pints, don’t you? You TERRIBLE PERSON. WHY WON’T YOU THINK OF THE PANDAS.).

Which is why it’s surprising that a charity hasn’t reached out to social media before in the way that Maggie’s, the cancer charity, did last week. They got in touch to let me know that they’re going to be constructing a ‘pop-up’ version of their famous Maggie’s Centres inside major Glasgow shopping centres this week, and would I be interested in coming along and finding out a bit more about the work that they do?

The facility will be available tomorrow and Friday at Buchanan Galleries, then will move to the St Enoch Centre over the weekend. Shoppers will have the chance to speak one-on-one with Maggie’s staff and volunteers to get a real insight into what the centres offer to cancer sufferers and their friends and families – everything from a friendly cup of tea and a chat to support groups, workshops, courses and even access to relaxation therapists. The charity runs two such centres in Glasgow, at Gatehouse (at the Western Infirmary) and Gartnavel, which often get over one hundred visitors a day. In the words of Centre Head Gillian Hailstones, both locations “help people find their way through the confusion a cancer diagnosis can bring” and encourage “a sense of community through meeting others in similar situations”.

It’s a cause I’m happy to lend my support to, and I’d encourage you to get along to one of the pop-up Centres over the next few days if you can. Of course, if you’d rather just donate that’s fine too.

Find out more about Maggie’s Centres via their website.

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