WHEN local businessman, Vivian Reddy, read about the theft of a 15-year-old Kia vehicle during a rare social outing for the children at the St Thomas Home for Children, he decided he needed to do something to help.
The Sibaya Community Trust recently donated a 16 seater bus worth R360 000 to the home to enable the home to transport the children in its care to school and doctors’ appointments.
The vehicle was handed over by Vivian Reddy, Chairman of Sibaya Casino on behalf of the Sibaya Community Trust to the St Thomas Home for Children, amid tears of joy from the management of St Thomas Homes.
“When we heard about the devastating theft of the home’s bus we felt it our duty to respond. The centre needs a reliable vehicle to take the children to and from school, as well as other appointments. We couldn’t sit back and not do anything about it. We are privileged to be in a position to help alleviate some of the stress and cost involved in transporting the children,” said Reddy, Trustee of the Sibaya Community Trust (previously the Afrisun KZN Community Development Trust).
St Thomas Home for Children Sydenham cares for 60 vulnerable and orphaned children between the ages of two and 10. The children are wards of the state and are sheltered and cared for at St Thomas Home for Children as a result of the neglect they have experienced. The children were being treated to a rare trip to a beachfront restaurant when the centre’s vehicle was stolen from a parking area near North Beach. Though it was insured, the amount paid out by the insurance provider was not enough to purchase another reliable vehicle.
The home, which relies heavily on the donations and support it receives from the public and caring companies in order to continue operating, had to commission the services of third party transport operators to transport the children to their schools and appointments. The costs, amounting to more than double the running costs of their own vehicle, proved to be unaffordable for the home.
Andre Young, Chairman of the Boards of St Thomas Home for Children said: “We are enormously appreciative of the support we have received from the Sibaya Community Trust. Without the donation of the new bus, we would have struggled to ensure that our children could get where they needed to be safely.”
