Mandela Day starts early this year
'It is truly rare to find people who are still willing to give in these hard times'
Getting half a day off the week before Mandela Day would probably make the employees of a company go crazy – they could leave work early, go home and sit in front of the television watching a movie.
However, this is not what 20 RCL Foods’ employees did – they used their half day off to visit the Rainbow Daycare Centre.
The centre, which is located next to the Randfontein railway station, was selected early this year as a part of RCL Foods’ SCI strategy in which employees were asked to identify a local facility in need and propose solutions to fulfill these needs.
Marica Theron nominated Rainbow Daycare, because to her, helping children with disabilities means truly spending her 67 minutes during Mandela day doing what she is passionate about.
The centre is situated in a rather dangerous place, so instead of decorating it, the company and its employees decided to install safety gates and CCTV video cameras within the facility. They helped to install donated and sponsored items which they had collected from local businesses.
“It is important to give back to the community in every way possible,” said Marica, “however, we didn’t want to just decorate the facility, we wanted to make it safer for the children.”
Marica and her team obtained sponsorship from an anonymous donor for their safety gate fund, and local businesses jumped in to help.
Pro-electrical agreed to install the safety gates for a very low fee. Piquant Security installed CCTV cameras within the facility. Three hospital beds were also donated and will be used to make the children’s lives more comfortable.
One of the small rooms that used to be a kitchen is now being converted into an effective washing station. RCL itself sponsored curtains, bedding and other items to help make this facility as comfortable as possible for both the children and the employees.
Marica says although the donations will contribute to the welfare of the children, the volunteers have not forgotten what Mandela Day stands for.
“Working on the facility is important, but to us, spending time with the children is a priority,” Marica said. “So, we also took time to bake muffins and play with them. Their facial expressions really made the project worthwhile.”
“It is important for our employees to see they are part of a bigger whole,” said Warren Farrer, communications manager at RCL Foods.
“The volunteers are truly doing amazing things.” Tatum Solomons, social worker at Rainbow Daycare centre said she’d been waiting for a blessing like this for a very long time, and thanks all the businesses for their contributions.
“It is truly rare to find people who are still willing to give in these hard times,” Tatum said
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