The Cancer Alliance of Help and Hope is holding a spooky Charity Ball on Oct. 30. The Charity Ball is the non-profit’s biggest fundraiser of the year, and it got the process off to a great start with a kick-off gala at The Gardens Mall last week.

The event was a great success, bringing several hundred people together for a great night that benefited a great cause. The gala featured appetizers and desserts by BRIO Tuscan Grille, a restaurant in the center, a Bloomingdale’s fashion show featuring fall fashions modeled by cancer survivors, a cash bar, a 50/50 raffle, a silent auction, and DJ music. Kids under 12 got in for free and had plenty to keep them busy in the Kid’s Zone, with cupcake decorating, yoga instruction, arts and crafts, food and lemonade.

Tickets to the event were $20, and shoppers who preregistered were entered to win a BRIO dinner for 10. An additional $50 donation put shoppers in the running for a $500 mall gift card, a flat screen TV, or a Tiffany bracelet.

It sounds like a great start to the fundraising season for the Cancer Alliance of Health and Hope, and a fantastic celebration of the finer things in life.

Earlier this year, Capital Shopping Centres began its search for the Unsung Family Heroes of the UK. We told you a bit about it in May.

Now one of Capital’s centers has found its Unsung Family Hero. Metrocentre has announced that local youngster Molly Robinson has been named Capital Shopping Centre’s ‘Unsung Family Hero 2010’. The nine-year-old was awarded a £500 prize at a recent ceremony at metrocentre with her proud family looking on.

Molly was chosen as Metrocentre’s regional winner earlier this summer, and was then entered into the National Final where she was selected as overall winner. Molly’s mother Karen was diagnosed with cancer when Molly was only three, and she was a priceless help through her mother’s battle, helping around the house and lifting her spirits when she felt low. Despite her young age, she’s also worked hard to raise awareness and money for cancer charities.

After being presented with her prize Molly said: “I was so excited to win the National competition it means so much to me and my Mum, everyone is so proud. I am putting my £500 prize towards a family holiday.” Molly and her family enjoyed also enjoyed VIP day at the Metrocentre, with a meal, some entertainment at the bowling alley and cinema, and a bit of shopping too.

We often hear about shopping centers making donations to charities, but our favorite examples are shopping centers that both involve the community in choosing a charity, and that reward charities that serve their communities.

New Zealand’s Bethlehem Town Centre held just such a competition that brought shoppers and charities together for a wintery celebration of giving. The Wish Upon a Star campaign offered shoppers the chance to enter a ballot for themselves and for a charity of their choice for each purchase they made at the shopping center between July 26th and August 1st. One of the nominated charities would receive a $5000 donation from the shopping center, and one winning shopper would take home a $1000 gift card.

Charity representatives had to be on-hand at the live prize drawing to be chosen for the donation, and hundreds of people came out to celebrate. Otumoetai Primary School in Tauranga recieved the $5000 cheque, while a local pie maker offered free pies to the crowd to keep them happy and warm.

Bethlehem Town Centre Manager, David Hamilton believes the competition was very successful. ‘Wish Upon a Star’ has helped remind locals that the Bethlehem Town Centre is a community-focused centre’. ‘It’s great to be able to provide a local charity with funds they need and are struggling to raise themselves’.

More and more, shopping centers are working with (or working around) retailers’ awareness-raising campaigns. We recently looked a Lush campaign that had mall security keeping an anxious eye on Lush workers lest they leave their shops while protesting in the buff. But awareness campaigns don’t need to turn antagonistic.

The Dolphin Shopping Centre is testing out that theory as Costa Coffee works to raise money to build schools in five coffee-growing communities in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Uganda and Columbia. The Costa Coffee employees at the Dolphin Shopping Centre location put their hearts, souls, and tips into the fundraising effort, and worked with the shopping center to increase exposure. Throughout the shopping center’s Escape the Midday Sun program of free family events, Costa Coffee employees are circulating through the mall. Each afternoon, they bring shoppers mini-muffins and samples of milkshakes, smoothies, coffee and hot chocolate in exchange for donations so shoppers don’t need to break away from the fun events to go for a bite to eat.

Meanwhile, The Lion Yard Shopping Centre embraced the interest brought in by another Lush campaign, this time against keeping reptiles as pets. Last week, a staff member from Lush at Lion Yard dressed as a chameleon and was crammed into a small cage Other Lush employees held posters that read “Exotic animals are not pets!” and handed out leaflets to intrigued shoppers.

Image: coffee beans, a cc licensed flickr photo shared by datenhamster.org

Aluminum cans are some of the most efficient items to recycle. They can be recycled completely, and a recycled can takes a fraction of the energy of a new can to create. Each can that ends up in the trash is a long lifecycle ended, so helping shoppers recycle their cans is a worthy objective.

UK developer Land Securities has signed on with Every Can Counts for two of its shopping centers, Willow Place and Corby Town Centre. The company is trialling the program with the hopes of someday launching it in all its properties. Every Can Counts offers a program that encourages both individuals and businesses to work at eliminating can waste, and they offer businesses support in getting their recycling programs off the ground.

How does your shopping center approach recycling? Do you have a program for shoppers? What about retailers? Recycling programs can be difficult to maintain, but reducing waste can be very valuable.