Philips South Africa has recently collaborated with The Westbury Youth Centre in upgrading and improving the centre’s basic facilities, in an effort to uplift its surrounding local communities.
Centre manager Reggie Botha pointed out that centre serves as an important social hub for the surrounding Johannesburg communities of Westbury, Claremont, and Bosmont.
“The centre has set out to empower the youth through various skills development and community outreach and education programmes. It also functions as a hostel which provides board, lodging and a constructive learning environment to local matric learners who come from difficult home environments,” he said.
Personal assistant to the vice president and the head of finance of Phillips Africa Gillian Louw was inspired with what the youth centre has accomplished. “Being here today has restored my faith in the community of Westbury. I am so proud of what the centre has been doing in terms of empowering the youth of the community,” she said.
An expansive vegetable tunnel, kitchen appliances, lighting, and stationery were donated to the centre by Phillips in order to enable better access and safety for the pupils and community members in Westbury.
Marketing manager for lighting at Phillips Jenny Heyes was overjoyed at the opportunity to donate the much-needed resources to the centre. “We’ve always been part of this community and one of the things that we thought we needed to do was to give back. This community is right next door to us and it’s about time we do something for this centre. The vegetable tunnel that was donated looks beyond amazing,” she said.
Supervisor of the Westbury Youth Centre Harvey Seckel was extremely thankful toward Phillips for their donation to the centre.“It’s been a dream to see both the hostel and community centre made more comfortable and functional,” he said.
Students from the University of Johannesburg and members of the singing group Jam Session Unplugged were also present at the event. Members Frank Lumkwana, Sphiwe Dladla, Luvuyo Mqikela, Nhlanhla Sekulisa, Vusi Mkize, and Prinsloo Mlambo provided a small performance to commemorate the event.
