Cashbuilt makes it a happy new year for eight schools

Eight schools in Emalahleni, Mpumalanga, were the lucky winners of the Cashbuild Art-at-Heart competition.

The schools each received a Cashbuild building material voucher to the value of R15 000.

The vouchers were handed out at the opening ceremony of the refurbished Cashbuild Emalahleni Central store on January 25.

The principals plan to spend the vouchers on general maintenance and repairs to their schools and grounds.

Laerskool Panorama, Laerskool Kragbron and Clewer Primary School were just three of the eight schools that each received a Cashbuild building material voucher.

Laerskool Panorama’s principal, Mr Paul Burger says there is an urgent need for an educational playground for the juniors in Grade R and Grade 1 and they will be using the funds to build the orientation playground.

Mr Zeelie, the principal of Laerskool Kragbron will be using the voucher for general maintenance needs, from painting to completing the school pavilion.

The principal of Clewer Primary, Mrs Jane Mthembu, was overjoyed to hear the news of the kind donation by Cashbuild.

“We will be using the voucher to pave the area where most of the learners play. This area is very dusty and causes chest irritation for some of our learners. Thank you Cashbuild for this wonderful initiative.”

At the opening ceremony of the refurbished Cashbuild Emalahleni Central store which took place on January 25, when the building material vouchers totaling R120 000 were handed out to the eight winning schools, the children entertained everyone with singing, cultural dancing and theatrical performances.

The Cashbuild Art-at-Heart competition entails learners from each school to submit their best artwork to Cashbuild.

This artwork is displayed at the ceremony and remains on display in the Cashbuild store for the next six years.

Artwork was judged and three winners from each school were named. Winners received Cashbuild Art-at-Heart gold, silver and bronze certificates for first, second and third place respectively.

The Manager’s Choice was awarded to a learner from Laerskool Panorama who was the overall winner of the artwork competition.

This award was announced on the day and the winning learner received a stationery pack and a glass trophy.

The winner was also given the honour of officially opening the refurbished store.

The schools that will benefit from the Cashbuild Art-at-Heart donations were: Laerskool Panorama, Laerskool Kragbron, Carissa Primary School, Clewer Primary, Alex Mampana School, Nkonjane Combined School, Vuma Combined School and Jeremia Mdaka Primary School.

Since the Art-at-Heart campaign was launched 18 years ago, Cashbuild has helped more than 3 200 schools in Southern Africa with over R40-million worth of building materials.

Cashbuild is BEE compliant and every time a store is opened, relocated or refurbished, Cashbuild not only makes donations to local schools, but also creates jobs for community members.

The Art-at-Heart competition is a Southern African Cashbuild initiative whereby donations are made to some of the region’s most needy schools.