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The people of the Eastern Cape and Garden Route opened up their hearts, wallets and purses for the poor in the 2012 Algoa FM Winter Woolly Week campaign.
They donated over 700 blankets,900 black bags of clothing items, 100 pairs of slippers, 300 jerseys, 3 000 white soft toys, 100 cushions and 1 090 tins of food.
In addition, Woolworths Lorraine has committed to feed Community Chest charities three times a week for a year.
“We are still receiving calls to collect items and distributed to 50 charities so far, and we also reached out to the individuals on the street and those who were affected by the floods,” says Colette Theron, Public Relations officer for Community Chest.
“I think that the best way to see the impact you make on people’s lives through this initiative is to actually go to one of these children’s homes or old age homes and see in what dire need they are of even the most basic necessities,” adds KayCee Rossouw, presenter on Algoa FM.
On Thursday, July 5, both Charlton Tobias from the Morning Show on Algoa FM and KayCee, joined Colette Theron from Community Chest to help distribute warm clothes and blankets to ACVV Kamvalethu Drop In Centre in Schauderville.
Kamvalethu meaning "Our Future" runs daily programmes with street children.
It focuses on assisting the children to get off the streets. “The children also receive food and clothing from the centre, and they have the opportunity to wash themselves and their clothes, so the donations we received today is of great help to us and we thank the community for their support’” says Catherine Van Rensburg, Office Manager at the ACVV Kamvalethu Drop In Centre.
“It is overwhelming to see how delighted they are when they receive a warm blanket or their own set of warm clothes, things that we daily accept as a given,” adds Charlton Tobias, Morning Show presenter on Algoa FM.
A new record was set when the Community Chest joined Roy and Viv on Algoa Cares on Wednesday, June 13, 2012 when a record amount in cash and goods to the value of R266 345 was donated on air.
It is the largest amount ever raised since Roy started the Algoa Cares programme 15 years ago. “The power of radio and the warm spirits of our community never cease to amaze me,” says Beulah Lumkwana CEO Community Chest Eastern Cape.
In addition, over R180 000 in sponsorships was received from Caltex, GMSA, Finro and NAMPAK.
Another R4 508 was collected at intersections when the daring presenters Wayne Hart, Andrew Serfontein, Kaycee Rossouw, Charlton Tobias and Gordon Graham committed to spending an hour in the cold on Tuesday morning, 12 June 2012 from 06h30 and 07h30 running between the cars during peak hour to collect warm goodies and donations.
