Elderly Fourways residents lend a hand to non-profit organisation
MAGALIESSIG – NPO I Love PJs gets older members of the public involved in assisting with the project to give back to displaced women and children, with more ideas to come as time goes on.
Elderly residents at the Amazing Grace Care Facility had an interesting day helping sort through items for a non-profit organisation on 3 September.
Ward 94 councillor Candice James is the director of a new NPO named I Love PJs aimed at helping displaced children by providing educational and exercise-inducing activities.
The I Love PJs organisation, still in its early stages of development, started collecting plastic bottle tops and bread bags in August to create small toys and educational packs for children in displaced areas.
James said the reception from the public has been incredible, and that now corporate companies want to get involved. Currently, the Amazing Grace Care Facility, Udderly Delicious and Coffee Crunch are helping the NPO.
James visited the centre with unsorted plastic containers of assorted coloured bottle caps to get the residents to sort out the caps by colour as well as assisting in keeping their minds active.
One of the directors of the care facility, Bruce Swanepoel said the relationship between James has been a fruitful one for a long time. “We opened this building on 10 February and invited Candice [James] as the ward councillor of the area to do the official opening,” he said.
He said that the residents at the care centre can sort out the bottle tops in order to help James. “We decided to let her use the area as a drop-off zone to make her life easier, and we give her the boxes of donated caps and plastic bags once they are full. She had also contacted us since she really appreciated what we were doing to assist, and asked us to be an ambassador for her brand.
He added, “We didn’t want them to do a tedious task. It was something new and fun with colour coordination for them to keep stimulated.”
Maureen Hackett, a resident at the care facility said the initiative is amazing. “I think she’s doing a fantastic job. When you think of all the items she’s using, it is what we throw away. It’s great to see that she’s putting them to good use and creating jobs in the process,” Hackett said.
Details: Candice James Candice@ilovepjs.co.za
