Old age home gets fresh look
ALEXANDRA - Nedbank has already started to make things happen in Alexandra as part of Mandela Day, by giving a new lease on life to the Itlhokomeleng Old Age Home.
The revamping of the home is just the start of many Alex projects that the bank will be engaged in, in celebration of ‘Mandela Month’, which marks the icon’s birthday on 18 July.
“We have heeded the call by President Jacob Zuma to make this year the biggest ever Mandela Day. We are not just going to have a Mandela Day and spend only 67 minutes, but we are going to have a Mandela Month instead, where we are going to spend much more than the stipulated 67 minutes,” said Kone Gugushe, Nedbank’s divisional executive for corporate social responsibility.
Nedbank partnered with Plascon for its Alexandra projects this month, which will see the bank’s staff volunteering their time and focusing their energies on health, education, children’s welfare and community development projects.
Nedbank staff gave the Itlhokomeleng Old Age Home a splash of paint, created a vegetable tunnel and planted seedlings, donated garden equipment and manure, cleaned the windows and washed the chairs, curtains and linen, and also treated the old folks to a braai.
Portfolio manager at the Nedbank Foundation, Ross Seripe, said Nedbank also donated a presser iron which will be able to handle the huge volumes of linen and other items that need to be ironed.
Seripe said Nedbank employees will be volunteering in Alexandra for the whole of July in various charity projects, including at the Alex Clinic, a daycare centre at Realogile High School, and also bus the children of Aganang Creche in Ivory Park to its headquarters for some pampering.
Bank employees will also participate in the Kaya Relay on 14 July, where proceeds will all go towards the building of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital on the precinct of Constitutional Hill.
Nedbank also runs a Saturday School programme, giving basic maths support to over 50 Grade 5 to 7 pupils from Zenzeleni Primary School. The programme takes place every second Saturday from February to November at the bank’s head office in Sandton, said Seripe.
