Uplift for children’s home

Michelle Wohlberg from the non-profit organisation, said the purpose of the project was to give the premises a makeover which included tons of fun, feel-good moments, teambuilding exercises, and some good hard work.

Wohlberg said, “Together with Absa employees, we are painting the home as well as planting eco-circle vegetable gardens that will assist with feeding the children more nutritious meals in the long run. We want the centre to become self-sustainable.”

The children, who were mostly under the age of 10, each painted two litre bottles beautifully. The bottles are cut away on one side where they planted two flowers and wrote messages of hope on the bottles.

Wohlberg said, “Each child will be asked to keep and take care of the flowers or give them away to someone as a gift.”

The children were also asked to decorate doughnuts and share them with the other children who were at school during the day’s activities.

The centre is situated at 15 Mitchell Street, Berea. Founder and director, Pastor Mike Sunker said they were a non-profit organisation with a mission to offer hope, help, health and a home to needy and destitute children.

Sunker said they started 14 years ago and currently they have 60 children in their premises from the ages of four to 22 years.

He said, “Most of the children are from the community around here. Some are referred to us by police, social workers and community leaders, and some come from informal settlements

“Most of them are orphans, and we are working with the community to prevent them from hitting the streets, because it’s very difficult to take someone off the streets once he or she is used to that life.”

Sunker added he was very excited by the assistance they received from Meals on Wheels.

“We appreciate their contribution. It will play a pivotal role in sustaining our project,” he concluded.