Children shop ’til they drop
MIDRAND - Children from Ivory Park's Thuthukani Community Centre were treated to a shopping spree at Boulder's Shopping Centre, courtesy of Jet Stores and the Nashua Children’s Charity Foundation.
For some of the children involved, this was the first time they had ever set foot in a mall, let alone been given the opportunity to choose their own new clothes and be treated to a lunch afterwards.
The event was part of a nationwide shopping spree which took place at eight different Jet Stores in eight different provinces and resulted in more than 400 children receiving new clothes.
Collectively, Nashua spent roughly R54 000 in Jet gift cards, with the Nashua franchises in each of the regions taking part, supplementing any shortfall in their expenditure for the shopping sprees.
Celebrities Kabelo and Gail Mabalane, Zizo Beda, Tamara Dey, Isaac Klawansky and former Miss South Africa Kerishne Naiker were involved with the shop and the celebrities were a big hit with the children.The celebrities that took part manned the tills and helped the children choose their outfits. After all 50 children had chosen outfits, they were treated to lunch at Nando’s.
“The response from the children was overwhelming,” said foundation director Helen Fraser. “Many of them had never received new clothes. The joy these children experienced through the simple act of being able to choose new clothes was a wonderful thing to see.”
Jet Club manager Ephraim Mamabolo said, “Jet Club is very proud to be able to contribute towards such a worthwhile and heart-warming initiative, but what we never anticipated was how much our staff and all other parties involved would enjoy these annual shopping sprees with the kids. It’s true what they say: giving really is better than receiving.”
