Autodealer gives back
As part of the Autodealer and Caxton Cares campaign, the editorial, sales and management team from Autodealer recently paid a visit to Casa Caritas. The team at Casa Caritas provide a home for the mentally and physically handicapped. What makes this organisation unique is the fact that of the 45 residents, the majority are children.
Upon arrival at the premises recently, the Autodealer team was greeted by the friendly staff who gave us a tour of the facility. When walking through the halls towards where the residents spend their day, the sound of laughter and happiness grew louder.
We then arrived at the residents, and my heart sank. I glanced over at my colleagues, many of which were fighting back tears. It’s an incredibly humbling experience to see people with such severe disabilities. The fact that so many of them appear so happy is also an eye-opening experience. The real heart-wrenching part of our visit was meeting little AJ de Jager, the centre’s youngest resident at just over a year old.
Some 97% of the residents have a severe form of either mental or physical disability. The most common form of disability at the centre is Cerebral palsy (CP), which encompasses a group of permanent movement disorders that appear in early childhood and can often affect a person for their entire lives.
Most of the residents were born with these disabilities; however, there are some within the facility that are disabled as a result of accidents. These people require and indeed, will require permanent attendance for the rest of their lives. The 24-hour care includes having to be fed, changed and, in some cases, having to be moved around.
The reason for our visit was, of course, to donate some money to this incredible organisation. We presented the kind folks from Caritas with a cheque for R10 623, a small token of Caxton’s appreciation for the great work that this organisation does.
If you’d like to get involved in helping this amazing centre, you can get in touch with them on 011 976 3417. The team also run a second-hand store called Something Blue, which sells many items such as books, shoes, jewelry and clothing for below R50.
