POLOKWANE – THE festive season is the season for giving, to spend time with family, to enjoy ample entertainment and to receive gifts galore.
The sad thing is that there are so many children who will not receive gifts or love this festive season.
In the spirit of generosity and the fact that children are such a huge focus of the Spur Group, Spur Foundation is coordinating a national toy collection drive to put a smile on some underprivileged children’s faces.
Between December 1 and January 16 collection boxes for new and pre-loved toys will be available at Amarillo Spur (Mall of the North), Falcon Rock Spur
(Savannah Mall), Panarotti’s Mall of the North and Panarotti’s Savannah Mall.
These boxes will be allocated to beneficiaries of the Spur Foundation.
The beneficiary in Gauteng and Limpopo is the African Self Help Trust trading as the ASHA Trust, a South African non-governmental organisation that establishes and supports formal and home-based early childhood centres in economically challenged communities by providing daily pre-school care, meals and educational stimulation for less-fortunate children aged two to six years old.
Spur Foundation runs this campaign on an annual basis, due to their commitment to the welfare of children in South Africa. The Toy Drive, supported by CourierIT, Longstreet Media and Nampak, collected 77 boxes filled with toys last year.
“According to the National Adoption Coalition Report, there are 18,5 million children in South Africa. Orphans are estimated at about 5,2 million children. Over 13 000 live in residential care facilities and an estimated 10 000 live on the streets of South Africa. That excludes the children that are with their families, but in such dire circumstances where they cannot afford basic necessities, never mind toys,” says Ronel van Dijk, chairperson of the Spur Foundation.
The Spur Foundation was founded on Mandela Day in 2012, with an initial R670 000 donation from the Spur Group.
Spur’s value of generosity and focus on family will be carried through to the Foundation’s various initiatives throughout the year, which are committed to Nourish, Nurture, Now!