Spreading the love
MORE than 100 needy children in Walmer will get to experience the joy of Christmas this December, many for the first time, thanks to the Tree of Joy initiative which kicked off last month.
The Tree of Joy is a project driven by the Rotary Clubs of Port Elizabeth, bringing Christmas to individuals who are under the care or support of various local charities.
About 3500 gifts will be given to nearly 40 beneficiary organisations around the city this year.
For the children at the Isithembiso Babies Home in Fordyce Road, Walmer, it will be the first time they unwrap Christmas gifts.
The home cares for six babies at a time, from newborns to the age of three.
"They have never had a normal Christmas so we try to create the most natural environment possible for them," house mother Carmen Faragher said.
Isithembiso is a halfway home for abandoned children.
They are either reunited with their families or placed in temporary foster care, or permanent adoptive homes.
The Zanethemba Charity Foundation, which runs several projects in Walmer, Township will receive more than 100 gifts. For the children who receive a gift, it might be the only present they get the whole year, Zanethemba project manager Gert de Nood said.
The tree stands in the food hall of Greenacres Shopping Centre and is up until December 21.
"The charities support a broad range of social, medical and educational needs, and are selected by the Rotary clubs who will then work with the charities to create a list of individuals who will receive gifts," organiser Angela Newton said. The concept of the tree is that residents take a card off the tree with the recipient's name and age and what they want for Christmas.
After buying and wrapping the gift they return it to the Tree of Joy and it is then handed out to the relevant charity organisation by the Rotarians.