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Westfield event lets you shop for charity

A special after-hours shopping session will benefit charities across Hillsborough County.

CITRUS PARK - Usually, the Citrus Park mall closes at 6 p.m. on Sundays. But not this time.

Tonight, a hockey player and a soap opera star will meet and greet consumers as Westfield Shoppingtown Citrus Park opens its doors for an after-hours charity shopping session.

Tampa Bay Lightning player Dan Boyle and will sign autographs from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at a booth in front of the Finish Line shoe store. Former Days of Our Lives actor Matthew Ashford will sign in the center court from 7-9 p.m.

It's all part of Westfield Works Wonders, an annual event featuring door prizes, store discounts and celebrity guests at all of Westfield's local malls: the Westfield Shoppingtowns in Citrus Park, Brandon Clearwater and Sarasota.

At least 15 nonprofit organizations from Hillsborough County will benefit.

"There are so many organizations that we want to help throughout the year, so we created this one night to help all of them," said Lynn Peterson, senior marketing director for Westfield's two Hillsborough County malls.

The malls will reopen to ticket holders tonight from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. The entire $5 ticket cost goes to charity. People who purchase tickets in advance by calling the malls can designate which charity their $5 will benefit; tickets sold at the door tonight will be divided among all the charities involved.

A number of stores are offering one-night-only discounts, and the mall will hand out door prizes.

Last year, about 50,000 people attended the event in Citrus Park, Brandon and Clearwater, raising more than $100,000.

This year's celebrity guests don't have quite the same international appeal as Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, who visited last September to promote Westfield Works Wonders. But fans of sports and soap operas won't be disappointed.

Aside from the Citrus Park mall, the Brandon mall will play host to former Buccaneer great Lee Roy Selmon, the University of South Florida's athletic director, who will hobnob with fans from 7 to 9 p.m. Ruslan Fedotenko of the Tampa Bay Lightning will sign autographs at the Brandon mall from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Guiding Light actors Crystal Hunt and Troy Kurtis will be in Clearwater.