Educare centre wants to bag it
A CAPE TOWN educare centre for children with disabilities will not allow a lack of funds, or vandalism, to deter them from creating a better space for children and staff.
The Emmanuel Daycare Centre for Special Needs Children in Atlantis has been in existence for 20 years and assists as many as 70 children with various disabilities.
Like any institution, it faces its share of difficulties. However, centre manager Joyce Anderson said they were trying to find a way.
The centre is located near an open field which people cross daily and this has resulted in frequent vandalism. Anderson said the centre was in dire need of burglar bars.
“On the side of the centre we have 12 windows and almost every month we have to replace those windows due to vandalism. This is not right, and now we need burglar bars in order to protect our windows. I have gone for quotes from different businesses and the burglar bars will cost us between R30 000 to R40 000,” Anderson said.
But the team is determined to protect the centre.
Last week, they started collecting offcuts from material sponsored to them and decided to make shopping bags to sell to try and raise money.
“We have received recycled materials and offcuts to make the shopping bags. The bags are being made by the staff and the process is tedious as we have to manually sort out materials and check everything, which is also being made by hand,” Anderson said.
“We hope this will really help us in the sustainability of running the organisation,” she said.
A single sewing machine is being used and they are looking for any second-hand industrial sewing equipment to expedite production.
“An industrial sewing machine is desperately needed as the machine we are currently using is usually used by our adolescent group and needles are breaking every other minute. But we believe this will work and if anyone has a second-hand industrial sewing machine to donate, it would be highly appreciated,” Anderson said.
With their first batch of bags completed, Anderson and her team are now seeking sponsors to buy their bags.
“The shopping bags look amazing and we have our centre’s logo sewed onto the bag. We really hope people will be interested in purchasing these bags, which are of good quality,” said Anderson.
To purchase a shopping bag, call 021 572 0976 or email emmdaycare@ telkomsa.net