Little Ladies’ Race raises funds for SOS Children’s Village
THE lives of hundreds of youngsters have been enriched after SPAR Eastern Cape named the SOS Children’s Village in Port Elizabeth as the beneficiary of their annual Little Ladies’ Race earlier this year.
The fifth edition of the much-loved curtain raiser earlier this month to the SPAR Women’s Challenge , saw little ones aged nine and younger run 2.5km along the beachfront promenade from Pollok Beach.
“With SPAR being a family brand and with the Little Ladies’ Race focusing on children, it was the perfect fit,” SPAR EC sponsorship controller Roseann Shadrach said.
SOS Children’s Village fundraiser, Mandy Spies, said they were excited by the donation and exposure received for the work they did to alleviate the plight of orphaned and vulnerable children from all over the province.
She said the organisation focused on children at risk of losing the care of their parents, as well as providing loving homes for those who had already lost parental care.
“We believe that children can only develop to their full potential if they have a supportive and protective family environment. We work to make this a reality,” she said.
“We work with disadvantaged families to prevent crises that can lead to family breakdown, offering various forms of support so that, ideally, children can grow up in their own families.”
Spies said that when children could no longer live with their own families, the organisation provided quality, family-like, alternative care.
She said SOS Children’s Villages South Africa were part of a global network operating in 134 countries.
“SOS Children’s Villages have been in operation since 1982 and have 11 active programmes in eight provinces nationally. By the end of the year, we will be caring for almost 7 000 children,” she said.
“To do everything we do, we need the support of partners, like SPAR, to give thousands of vulnerable children a loving home and a second chance just to be a child.
“We say a heartfelt thank you to SPAR for their generous investment into the lives of our children,” Spies said.