Children's home windfall
THE year started off with a bang for SOS Children's Village in Schauderville after the home received two donations.
The first was R20000 worth of appliances from Small Enterprise Employers of South Africa (Seesa) and the second R16000 stationery donation from the Rotary Club of Algoa Bay (RCAB).
The village, home to over 650 orphaned and abused children, is very well maintained so as to never allow the children to feel inferior to their peers, SOS Children's Village corporate fundraiser Mandy Spies explained.
"Each family unit houses about 10 people including the children and house mother. The ratio of girls to boys is relatively the same, however we spread the age groups across the homes to create a realistic home environment.
"All of the kids in that particular home will have chores and family rules to abide by.
"The point of all this is to make the children feel as if they are part of a family and have that sense of belonging. But this standard of living costs money."
Seesa provincial training manager Paul Rothman said the company had a project most months where they gave back to the community.
"Seesa asks all its employees for suggestions as to possible foundations to help and that is how we found out about SOS.
"We look at various criteria including the foundation's lifestyle for the children and the standard of the facility."
Magdarie van Staden, public relations officer for Seesa, went on to say that electrical appliances consisting of washing machines, fridges and freezers were donated to SOS because they showed potential for growth.
"Our social economic development projects are largely focused on the youth, empowering them in such a way that they can make a positive contribution to society in the future."
One of RCAB members, Gavin Gilmer, said its donation was also in an effort to help the children of SOS lay a solid foundation for the future.
"It is important that these kids have the basics, and it is these little things that will motivate the children, knowing that they are being supported. Their requests are so minimal we felt we had to do what we could to turn them into reality.
"We will be going around to each of the houses and assess what is required by those individuals and hand them out accordingly," said Gilmer.