Tefo marks his birthday with blankets donation for the ward elderly
I am a winter baby myself and I know pretty well how cold this season can get and the need to come to the aid of the elderly hence I decided to turn my birthday celebration into a blanket drive for the elderly of my ward, says Cllr Tefo Raphadu.
Ward 105 councillor Tefo Raphadu celebrated his birthday on June 4 with a blanket handout to the elderly residents of his ward at the Altrek Hall.
More than 80 elderly residents, mainly gogos and a handful of men, braved the chilly winter to receive the blankets in the green and gold colours of his party, the ANC, after which the elderly were treated to some food and refreshments.
Raphadu said he had turned his birthday celebration into an annual gesture of donating blankets to the elderly as he arrived in this world at the onset of winter and knew pretty well what was in store in terms of the wintery chill.
“I then decided in my first season of the councillorship role of Ward 105 to always celebrate my birthday with the elderly and share the much-needed warmth of this season in the form of blankets with the elderly residents of my ward,” he said.
One of the recipients of the blankets, 73-year-old Gladys Chirwa of Far East Bank, who was accompanied by her elder sister Elsie Chirwa (93), told Alex News the blankets would go a long way in keeping the sisters warm this winter.
“We often struggle to keep warm in winter as our old age grant can hardly be stretched enough to cover even buying an ordinary blanket, let alone mink [synthetic material] blankets, as most of the grant money tends to go towards food for them and their school-going grandchildren.
“I have four grandchildren and my sister has six, including two great-grandchildren, and we have to always make do with the little we have,” she said.
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