Media statement: Solidarity Helping Hand gives schoolbags to needy Grade Ones in East London

Media statement

Solidarity Helping Hand

19 January 2012

Solidarity Helping Hand gives schoolbags to needy Grade Ones in East London

Twelve new Grade Ones of Laerskool Grens in East London were surprised with brand-new schoolbags filled with stationery and other school utensils this week.

Solidarity Helping Hand is distributing close to 4 000 schoolbags to needy Grade Ones this year under its annual Schoolbag project. Since the project was started in 2007, 12 500 schoolbags have been distributed to needy Afrikaans-speaking Grade Ones.

Applications for 380 bags were received from the Eastern Cape, of which 20 were allocated for the East London area.

“It is wonderful what hope can mean to a child. If you don’t have hope, you don’t have a reason to get up and go to school every day,” says Marlene Veldtman, Helping Hand’s regional organiser in the Eastern Cape. “Thanks to the Lord’s grace and Helping Hand’s Schoolbag project, we are able to give hundreds of Grade Ones hope.”

The schoolbags were presented to the principal, Mrs Janieta Faber, at the school on Tuesday.

“The smiling faces showed what the schoolbags mean to them,” says Faber. “We are truly grateful for the donation.”

“The children were completely overwhelmed and in some cases shocked by this unexpected gesture and I think the happiness over receiving these gifts will only sink in later,” says Jan Smit, president of the newly established Helping Hand branch in East London.

The purpose of the project is to ultimately ensure that not a single Afrikaans Grade One pupil goes to school without the necessary stationery, as the right equipment can help children to get an education and to break free from poverty. Helping Hand wants to break the cycle of poverty through a policy of upliftment through training, starting with the provision of schoolbags to Grade Ones and continuing with the provision of school and career guidance and eventually even bursary loans. Helping Hand strives to giving people the opportunity to live out their calling and thereby make a positive contribution in the community.

 

Anyone who is interested in getting involved in the East London branch can contact Jan Smit at 083 415 3311 or regional organiser Marlene Veldtman at 083 501 3166.

There are various ways in which people can support the project.

-       Text the word “tassie” to 34388 (R2/SMS) and an agent will phone you to find out how much you want to donate. The cost of one schoolbag is R200.

-       Phone Helping Hand at 0861 25 24 23 or 012 644 4390.

-       Go to the website www.helpinghandfund.co.za to get more information on the project.

-       Make a donation. The banking details are: Solidarity Helping Hand, Absa account: 407 225 0017, Centurion branch: 632 005. Quote “tassie” as reference. Fax proof of payment to 086 218 3216.