Drive-by birthday for Life CEO
Life Community Services CEO Maryna de Vries was in for a huge surprise on her birthday, Friday 15 May, when colleagues and friends spoiled her with a "drive-by" party.
She was overwhelmed by all the gifts she received. "I've never received so many gifts for my birthday before. What a blast! The best is that I didn't know," she told George Herald. It was a great encouragement to her during lockdown. The organisation is facing difficulties because of the increasing need in the already poor communities they serve, as well as operational and funding challenges. De Vries was recently also downcast after a spate of burglaries and incidents of vandalism on the Life property in Parkdene and at their centre in Thembalethu. The drive-by party was initiated by Life's director, Sally Versveld, and her daughter, Megan, a teacher at Life
Christian Academy. "Sally said she was bringing me cake at three, so I got ready. Then the hooting in the street in front of our home started and I thought it was people collecting masks that are made by the ladies from our job creation project. I ran to the lounge to take the mask box out, but when I got outside, there were a row of cars waiting to deliver gifts as they drove past. It was such a blessing."
Maryna's husband, Philip was also in on the secret, which he managed to keep very quiet.