A local football club showed their appreciation to women as they spent a day with women at a retirement home.
Where many sports clubs just take from members of their community, Bantwana College (BC) decided to be different from the pack. On 1 December, they dedicated their time, energy and resources to 35 residents at Caro House Ladies Retirement Home in Northcliff. On the day, they brought gift boxes for and hosted a Christmas carol show for the women.
Coach and founder of Bantwana College, Theo Buttress, believes the day was a huge success judging by the smiles that were on the faces of the girls of Bantwana and the residents of Caro House. The 35 residents, five of which are frail care, received a gift box that included face cloths, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, biscuits, sweets and a ‘Self-Love Healing Gift Pack’. Latex gloves, cotton swabs and disinfecting swabs were also donated to the retirement home. Members of the club also baked cupcakes for the residents to enjoy during their special performance. What was scheduled to only last 30 minutes ended up going on for an hour and a half.
According to Buttress, they choose to do this for three reasons. The first was to pay tribute to their parents. “We wanted to show our appreciation to our mothers and grandmothers who are a neglected part of society, especially during the Christmas season.”
The second reason was to teach the girls of Bantwana College the value of assisting those more venerable. Lastly, they wanted to push other clubs to do the same. “We want to encourage other organisations to the same. We will be increasing our efforts as well in the near future. We all need to give back to the community that gives to us.”
Buttress thanked all those who came on board to make this initiative possible. He gave a special thank you to George Skoutollas, owner of Spar Blackheath, for donating the toiletries and snacks. He also thanked Katey and Nirren Balram for sponsoring the ‘Self-Love Healing Gift Pack’ goodie bags. This included a book, fragranced soap, crystal energising cleansing spray, and much more. “Thank you so much to our sponsors including the players and parents who sponsored the balance of the goodie bag.”