Ann Harding Cheshire Home launches bathroom renovation project

To enhance the quality of life for its residents, the Ann Harding Cheshire Home in Northwold has launched a fundraising campaign to renovate its bathrooms. This initiative aims to provide better living conditions for the 38 individuals residing in the home, who have physical disabilities of various origins.

Jackie Kyle, the fundraising and events manager at Ann Harding Cheshire Home, emphasised the urgency of the renovations. “Our bathrooms are crucial spaces for our residents, and unfortunately, they are not fully functional for all disabilities. While they accommodate most residents, some design choices limit accessibility for others.

“We have got 14 bathrooms and we are renovating them all completely. We are breaking them down and redoing them because they haven’t been done in many years and they are not in a good state, so we are currently holding a big fundraiser for that.”

The home requires R1.3m to renovate all of its bathrooms. However, the current funds stand at a mere R165 000. Despite this setback, Kyle remains optimistic about commencing the renovations, explaining, “It’s not a lot but it’s enough to do one bathroom so we’re getting started with the first bathroom. We’ve broken down everything, the plumbers are doing their bit. We’ve chosen tiles and then we’re going to start tiling, so that’s quite exciting.”

Kyle gave credit to the community which she says has actively been supporting the home’s charity and coffee shop. “We get a lot of support from the community and we are so grateful for that. We would like to encourage them to keep supporting us and keep coming.”

While the community actively supports the home, Kyle explained the challenges the home still faces in securing donations. “Adult disabilities is a very underfunded area. People will look at children with disabilities and a lot of money goes to education. Those are all great but very little comes to adult disabilities so it’s hard to raise funds for here.”

Kyle invited the community to join hands in supporting this vital cause. Donations will play a big role in ensuring that all residents have access to comfortable and fully functional bathrooms, thereby enhancing their overall well-being and independence.

To learn more about how to support Ann Harding Cheshire Home, contact Jackie Kyle at jackie@cheshirehome.org.za

To donate towards the bathroom renovation project scan the QR code here 

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