I CARE, the charity transforming the lives of street children, is appealing to the public not to give money to street children.
Gail Elson, Marketing Manager, said giving these children money enables and prolongs their stay on the streets, and in turn encourages substance abuse, which in turn can lead to crime and all sorts of unacceptable and bad behaviour.
“Sadly, many children come to the street during the school holidays with the preconceived idea that they will make themselves plenty pocket money. With many generous holidaymakers in our city, and especially over the Christmas period, some of these street children are getting in excess of R500 a day begging at traffic lights and intersections,” she said.
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Gail thanked all who supported the organisation during the past year, and said during 2019 138 boys had visited the I Care drop in centre in Greyville, 36 street children were rehabilitated, and 39 children were reunited with their families.
She said 20 rehabilitated children had been skilled and 30 rehabilitated children were housed in I Care family houses in Lower Illovo. A total of 100 food parcels were delivered to afamilies on the aftercare programme and 37 772 meals were served at various I Care programmes.
“I Care, which has been successfully transforming the lives of these children for the past 17 years, is strongly appealing to the public for support. If people would like to make a donation, rather make it to I Care than people on the streets, to assist us in our work with these children,” said Gail.
Contact 081 331 5484 or 031 572 6870 or visit the webpage: www.icare.co.za.
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