BRIGHT Eyes Centre, a NPO based in Berea which provides early intervention, therapy and care for visually impaired children, has taken on a project called Muffin Mondays.
Every week Carron Strachan, centre co-ordinator, and Cathryn Aylett, specialist pre-school teacher, send out a menu of the muffin flavours available to local school tuck shops, and on Sundays the women spend the day baking anything between 100 and 300 muffins. They offer a free delivery service to people who order two dozen or more, and the muffins are delivered on Mondays.
“Our fundraiser is to raise the money we need to upgrade our play area. This is not only to meet the unique needs of low vision and blind toddlers, but also so that we can hopefully make ourselves available as a party venue, thereby allowing us to become a little more financially independent. Carron often hosts Baumann House for sensory play dates, and as the previous co-ordinator of Baumann House for almost 10 years, she can appreciate the need for youngsters to get out as often as possible in order to receive the stimulation that they need. Due to the deteriorating condition of the jungle gym we have unfortunately had to put these days on hold,” said Cathryn.
She said Bright Eyes urgently needed the backing of the community in order to replace the jungle gym.
“We are also working with Thubalethu Creche in Lacey Road and would love to host their little ones at Bright Eyes for play days and lessons,” she said.
The women are hoping to reach their goal of R50 000 by November which means they will need to sell roughly 17 000 more muffins in the next two-and-a-half months.
“No we are not crazy, we are passionate about what we do and we know that it is possible if we put the effort in. We have launched a crowdfunding page as well to ease the pressure off the baking as we still have a centre to run. Our little ones deserve the best. Our dream for 2018 is to create a safe and imaginative outdoor space we know our children deserve,” she said.
The women are looking for local school tuck shops to support their project by buying their muffins to resell at school. They are also looking for offices to support them by hosting a monthly tea that they can supply muffins for.
“We are looking for help from anyone who can spare R5. We are an NPO that relies entirely on the generosity of the community to keep going. This fundraiser forms part of our build up to Eye Care Awareness Month and hope to make more people aware of who we are and what we do for the visually impaired community,” she said.
If you are interested in supporting this initiative, contact Cathryn on 078 059 3870 or cathryn@brighteyes.co.za.
