AMCARE was founded by the Alberton Methodist Church in 2002. The non-profit organisation (NPO) was founded with to provide relief for those suffering from HIV/Aids in the New Redruth area.
At the Alberton offices, the original clients were housed in the horse stable in the New Redruth area. Since those early days of Amcare, the organisation has expanded and grown, recognising the need of vulnerable groups not just in New Redruth but also the surrounding areas.
Their vision is to be the leading faith-based centre serving communities. They aim to educate, inform and care for the people in the communities in which they serve so they can empower themselves.
Amcare services are divided into four legs that form the basis of their support and relief efforts in the community.
The first leg is their Victim Empowerment Programme that aims to protect and empower women and children who found themselves in abusive and destructive relationships.
The second part of their service is their HIV/Aids Programme that provides support to those affected by the disease, both directly as well as orphaned and vulnerable children.
The third support leg is the Elderly Care Programme which provides home-based care which includes transport, relief, assistance at home and social aspects, as well as support in the community.
The fourth leg is the Skills Development Programme which equips people with the skills needed to gain independence through training at Amcares catering facilities.
All of these legs will be explored more fully by the RECORD in the coming weeks.
Sustainability
Amcare as an NPO needs to have a measure of sustainability. They need to have sources of income should they no longer receive grants from the government of other donors.
While grants and donations do make out the major part of Amcare’s funding, Amcare’s catering services and charity store provides a source of income for sustainability of the centre.
Amcare’s charity store takes donations from people, then clean and prepare the objects for sale in the store. Another aspect of the store is the scratch patch which serves as an economic empowerment method.
Black bags full of clothes are bought by patrons who resell them on their own initiative. The catering programme, which forms part of their skills development programme, is a large source of income Amcare hopes to expand in the near future.
The catering services cater for corporate, community and households. The expansion of their kitchen facilities would allow them to cater to government and large corporations. The catering and skills development will be discussed more fully in a later publication.
With further growth and development in mind, the decision was reached for Amcare to rebrand. The core reason for this is to improve the prospects of corporate and community involvement with the organisation. The new brand was chosen to appeal to a greater community and is something Amcare is proud of. Join the journey with Amcare leading to the launch on October 23. We look forward to seeing you there.
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