Animal hero turns 90
SANDTON - Val Stewart has dedicated decades of her life to animal charity work. At the age on 90, she is still continuing her legacy.
Val Stewart has had a soft spot for animals since she was a little girl growing up in KwaZulu-Natal and this love and passion for animals has not dwindled with age but rather has strengthened.
It is for this reason that Sandton SPCA hosted a special 90th birthday celebration for Stewart on 18 May.
Chairperson of Sandton SPCA, Stephanie Brown, described Stewart as ‘an ordinary hero who lives her life well’. This is an apt description for Stewart, who has been assisting animals for decades.
For the past 20 years, Stewart has been sitting outside Pick n Pay in Benmore with a trolley and a collection tin collecting money and animal food for Sandton SPCA. “From the beginning of 2013 until July last year, I managed to collect more than R185 000 in funding and animal food for Sandton SPCA,” explained Stewart.
“I’ve managed to collect more than R5 000 this year so far.”
However, instead of giving herself credit for all of the charity work she has done, she said, “The most important thing for me is to thank all of those people who have donated money, food and time to this cause. Without these people, my charity work would not be possible. I am also incredibly grateful to Pick n Pay in Benmore for allowing me to sit there for all of these years.”
Stewart also dedicates a lot of her time to knitting jerseys for animals so that they can keep warm in winter. She was very proud to show a Sandton Chronicle journalist her scrapbook which serves as a record of the community work she has done. “Over here is a record and some pictures of the first doggie jerseys I knitted in 1990. So many people have donated wool for me to knit these jerseys and I am always looking for donations of wool as well.”
On one of the pages of her scrapbook was a letter from a little girl who was clearly inspired by Stewart. A portion of the letter read, “You really are inspiring. A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.”
Details: pr@sandtonspca.org.za
