Fourways High School has partnered with Pick n Pay Douglasdale to raise funds for the school’s Student Development Programme (SDP) which helps learners at the school with financial assistance.
The school and store have been in talks since last year, and the programme fully kicked in from this year. Pick n Pay came on board as they sourced supplies for the school at reasonable prices. The community can get involved by dropping their Pick n Pay slip in a box at the entrance, and a percentage of the amount spent will go towards the SDP at the end of the month.
This will contribute to the necessities needed to keep the programme alive, such as groceries and the essential needs of the learners. Nevada Joshua, a staff member at Fourways High has been heavily involved with the SDP and has acted as the head of the programme since 2014. “One of the common misconceptions about the Fourways area is that we are middle to upper-class suburb without any major financial struggles,” she said.
The programme started over 20 years ago, with the longest standing member being involved since 2003. Over the years, the programme has gone from a feeding scheme to much more with bigger goals.
“We as a school recognised that this is not the case and that we have a number of families in our community that are in desperate need of assistance.”
Around eight staff members are involved in the programme, with learners also contributing in the form of civvies day donation and food donations. “Learners are not directly involved in the SDP as it’s a staff-run programme. It is an anonymous programme with the intention of bettering our community,” Joshua said.
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If a learner is identified as a candidate for the programme, the head of the programme has a number of checks and balances in place to assist the learner with anything they would need. Everything is anonymous as the learner’s privacy and dignity are most important.
Joshua said the long-term goal for the programme is for its continuance in creating, ‘life-long learners and future leaders in all fields’.
“It is for this reason that we are always looking for companies and corporates to get involved in the programme whether through monetary donations, internships, apprenticeships or even bursaries/scholarships to a tertiary institution.
“We want to ensure that any learner who passes through the doors of Fourways High has a world of opportunities available to them and can help end the cycle of poverty in our community.”
Store manager of Pick n Pay Douglasdale, Nelson Ndlovu said the coming together with the school is to show their involvement in the community and that the reception to the boxes at Pick n Pay has been fairly good. “We started this initiative to show we appreciate the school and the community as we would like to get involved with them. They appreciate what we are doing for the school.”
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