Saint Giles celebrates 65 years

SAINT Giles Organisation for the Disabled recently celebrated its 65th birthday with a special breakfast at Marine Lifesaving Club.

At the breakfast, director, Carlos Dos Santos read out a speech written by managing director of Saint Giles, Terry Rennie, whose flight back from the UK had been delayed.

Terry thanked everyone present for sharing the common investment in continuing growth of the organisation and mentioned the incredible growth by Saint Giles going back to 1952.

Evidence of the growth included an increase of patrons to the remedial gymnasium at Saint Giles, which has increased from 27 to 31 daily.

He said the work centre had shown a 98 per cent growth, the charity shop had shown a 16 per cent growth and from the inception of the bursaries in 2012, there has been an increase from eight recipients with a contribution of R56 000, to 21 recipients in 2017, with a contribution of R224 000.

There has also been an increase in staff numbers at Saint Giles, and 76 per cent of the staff are disabled. Terry also mentioned the growth of the Heritage Circle, a social club for people aged 60 and older, which now has 74 members.

“Building alternations have increased production floor space and storage and we are hoping to be able to employ 30 more staff members at the work centre. We thank our three loyal customers who have supported the work centre for the past 41 years, National Bioproducts Institute, Unilever and Wearcheck. We also thank graffiti artist, Shaun Oakley, for pro bono work on our building, to make it look more vibrant. He will be doing more work now that our alterations are complete,” he said.

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