Frances Vorwerg School is the 2024 winner of SASPD
Frances Vorwerg School recently participated in the 2024 Toyota South African Sports for the Physically Disabled National Championships, winning as the best-performing para-athletes.
Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM), in collaboration with the South African Sports Association for Physically Disabled (SASAPD), presented a brand-new Toyota Quantum to Frances Vorwerg School.
TSAM delivered the new vehicle, worth over R800 000, at the Johannesburg South school on May 24.
The Johannesburg south-based school was declared the prize recipient of the Quantum for having the best-performing para-athletes at the 2024 Toyota SASPD National Championships, hosted between March 21 and 25 in the Free State.
According to Pieter Badenhorst, a representative from TSAM, they have been donating at least one Quantum a year to one school for the past five years, together with SASPD. TSAM is also part of the Toyota Mobility for All corporate social responsibility campaign.
“We chose Frances Vorwerg School as the 2024 winner because of the motivational letter they attached to their entrance application. It always feels great seeing smiles from the beneficiaries as we deliver these vehicles to winning schools because we know we accomplished our mission as TSAM,” said Badenhorst.
Badenhorst further said this significant achievement also strengthens the ongoing partnership between TSAM and SASPD, which aims to assist the federation’s goal of promoting Paralympic-level sporting codes for local athletes with physical disabilities and visual impairments.
Frances Vorwerg School’s gratitude
The Department of National Education established the Frances Vorwerg School in 1971 for students with learning difficulties and cerebral palsy. However, the Department of Education developed the first Frances Vorwerg School in the Crown Mines region, and the new school opened its doors to the general public in 1979.
During the handover ceremony, the students were ecstatic as the school’s principal, Susan Viljoen, received the keys.
She said now that they won the Toyota Quantum, they could expose their athletes with physical disabilities to a wider range of sporting events that happen during the week and across the nation during competition and tournament seasons.
“Participating in sports fosters a sense of teamwork, character development, confidence, and overall wellness. Besides Toyota South Africa Motors, we would especially like to express our gratitude to our HOD for sport and the entire team that did a fantastic job representing us so well in the Free State,” Viljoen said.
“I would like to thank Toyota SA and SASAPD on behalf of the staff, learners, and parents of Frances Vorwerg School for the Quantum minibus. This prize means so much as it will be beneficial for all our para-athletes and teams,” Liezl Potgieter, the head of the sports department at Frances Vorwerg School, added.
SASPD’s gratitude and mission
SASPD also passed their gratitude to TSAM for the ongoing support for schools with individuals who are physically disabled. SASPD was established in 1962 as the South African Paraplegic Games Association and catered only for persons with spinal cord injuries.
After the Paralympic Games in Toronto in 1976, the association changed its name to the South African Sports for Physically Disabled (SASPD) and its scope changed to include sports for people with visual impairments, amputees, cerebral palsy and les autres (for people with locomotor disabilities not included in other classifications).
The president of SASPD, Moekie Grobbelaar, said the partnership between them and TSAM proves because of the undying support from TSAM, the needs of the physically impaired individuals are catered for throughout the country.
“I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to TSAM for their five years of partnership with SASPD. To us, they truly are like family,” Grobbelaar concluded.
