Margie Grobbelaar says, ‘Farewell’

MARGIE GROBBELAAR, the long-serving stalwart on the Vryheid Child Welfare committee is leaving Vryheid. She is retiring to Durban to live nearer to her two daughters.

She will be sorely missed by Child Welfare in Vryheid, having been on the committee since 1999, and then Chairperson of the committee for well over a decade. The mutual respect between Child Welfare’s staff and Mrs Grobbelaar was clearly evident at a farewell tea held in her honour on Friday last week.

Mrs Grobbelaar praised the staff for their enthusiasm, professionalism, problem solving and cheerfulness. She praised too the donors, many of whom preferred to remain anonymous, saying they were “wonderful”. In fact, she was full of praise for others including the unpaid volunteers who she described as “the backbone” of Child Welfare.

She said that in her time at Child Welfare, she had seen the growing realisation within the community of the reality of poorer people’s needs. And in the light of the seemingly ever-increasing demands on Child Welfare’s services, could she see light at the end of the tunnel?

“Yes,” she said, “because people care. There are always people who care.”

Margie Grobbelaar certainly cared for the children and families of Vryheid.