Celebrating a 40th birthday with children in hospital

Armed with treats, toys and teddy bears, SCP Security’s director and community leader Clive Maher decided to spend his birthday with those less fortunate. On his 40th birthday on 16 October, he donated bags of sweets, snacks and fun activities such as colouring books and stress balls with the brave and strong children fighting various illnesses in hospital.

For Maher, this year was about doing something different after realising how fortunate and blessed he has been. He said, “This year I realised there’s nothing I really need or want and felt that I should celebrate the day by putting a smile on the faces of children.”

He did exactly that as hospital staff and the children were surprised to be visited and gifted by the Maher and the SCP Security team.

As part of the goodies were teddies from the Bears of Courage (BOC) initiative founded by Ronelle Baars. The initiative donates hand-knitted teddy bears to sick children, newborn babies and children in various sanctuaries and homes. Over the last few years, Baars and the BOC have used the bears to share joy and love with children just as the Bears of War initiative did for children who were removed from their families during World War II. This year, Baars and Maher were able to partner and supply at least 20 teddies to go along with the gifts given to the children.

With all Covid-19 rules and regulations adhered to, Baars introduced Maher to one of the children who would be receiving a birthday gift and he shared words of encouragement with the young girl. He said, “There’s so much more I would love to do but just knowing that today was a day they never expected and with goodies that made them happy made this all worth it.”

Maher thanked Baars, the hospitals and all those involved that helped him use his birthday to make the day special for others.