Horison Methodist Church’s blanket drive
Women in Prayer Group calls on Roodepoort Community aim to raise blankets for 500 children at Child and Family Welfare Centre.
The women’s prayer group from Horison Methodist Church appealed to the Roodepoort community to help them collect blankets for children at the Child and Family Welfare Centre in Discovery.
The centre provides a caring oversight for about 500 children from birth to 18 years old and said that there is a serious need for blankets. It is thus that Reverend Kim Alexander and the prayer group, which comprises 12 women who form part of the church’s Women in Prayer group decided to initiate the idea.
The idea started when they visited the centre to hand out a batch of hats to the children there, and since it is winter season, they thought it would be the perfect opportunity to collect blankets and/ or duvets for each of the children.
Kim said the idea came about in the car on their way back from the centre and thought it would be fitting to initiate this project. She also added that most of their ideas stem from a need within their periphery.
“It is an interesting story. Some of the ladies suggested we do 100 blankets, and I told them we can dream bigger, and eventually we agreed to source a total of 500 blankets and duvets so that each child could get one,” she said. She continued to emphasise that their dream is for each child to have a blanket and that this should come from the whole community.
The prayer group started by making hats, however, they are not sewn in the traditional manner, but rather tied together, and is the second bunch that would be delivered at a pre-school with whom they have been supporting for over 20 years.
“We want people to buy into the dream as it is not about us, but gaining the trust of the community to get them to invest in initiatives such as this,” Kim added, and went on to say that she is a firm believer of the sentiment ‘if you believe it, you can live it’.
The total number of blankets and duvets currently stands at 24, with them being hopeful that more people would reach out by donating either money, homemade blankets, or any old blankets in their cupboards which they do not need anymore.
The prayer group says that they do hope to have blankets by the second week in July and urges the community to donate whatever they have.
Communities can get involved by dropping off blankets at the church building located at 52 Cutten Street. Alternatively, contact Kim via email at horisionmethodist@telkomsa.net or 011 763 5463/ 076 720 4151.
