Drop-in centre is given a new look
The municipality, in partnership with the Polokwane police and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) began painting the Regaugetswe Drop In Centre in Greenside Ext 44 last Monday, as part of celebrating Mandela Day.
POLOKWANE – The municipality, in partnership with the Polokwane police and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) began painting the Regaugetswe Drop In Centre in Greenside Ext 44 last Monday, as part of celebrating Mandela Day.
The campaign saw the three partners together with leading locals in Polokwane municipality, SAPS Polokwane, South African Social Security Agency and leading locals don overalls to paint and clean-up the drop-in centre.
The paint and brushes were donated by Moila Funerals, which also participated.
According to Polokwane Municipality Ward 23 councillor, Mabotse Mothiba, celebrating Mandela Day was seen as a crucial event towards bettering the lives of those who were unable to better their lives on their own.
“The municipality sees the 67 minutes for Tata Mandela as an important day to help the less fortunate. During our visit we also realised that the drop-in centre was struggling a lot, especially financially,” Mothiba said.
He said the municipality and Sassa had decided to work together to ensure that the drop-in centre received food parcels. “This will also be done at other drop-in centres that are struggling to make ends meet,” Mothiba said.
Regaugetswe Drop In Centre manager, Maria Ngwena, said with the help of the three entities, it would appear that the children’s lives were about to change for the better.
“We have been running the drop-in centre for eight years now with donations; we have a passion for working with children. We really appreciate the support from the community of Greenside as well,” Ngwena said.
“There are 53 children we assist but even with the donations from the community, we still struggle to feed them. We hope we can get a sponsor that can fund us on a regular basis. Then we will be able to do much better for our children,” Ngwena said.
Polokwane police spokesperson, Lesiba Ramoshaba, said the police still had various activities planned throughout Mandela Month.
“We will be visiting other homes that are struggling to give others a better life, where we will be cleaning and doing laundry for them. We are also going to visit some farms where we will be planting vegetables together with the farm employees, which will be for their own sustenance,” Ramoshaba said.
