Christmas came early this year for the children at Just In Time Baby Sanctuary, who received donations from a collection drive led by Kwena Square as part of their Heritage Month celebrations.

The donations, a result of Kwena’s #LivingTheUpside campaign, focused on supporting vulnerable children, were handed over to the sanctuary on October 23. The initiative also serves as a way for the centre to give back to the community.

According to Kwena’s marketing manager, Unathi Tyali, the drive is part of a nationwide Redefine Properties Heritage Month campaign, in which each shopping centre under the group adds its own local spin on celebrating heritage.

This year, Kwena chose the theme “Our Children, Our Heritage”, focusing on collecting donations for Baby Moses and Just In Time Baby Sanctuary.

“Heritage Day is a big thing for Redefine as a whole,” said Unathi. “This year, we decided to focus on heritage through our children. We raised donations of kids’ toys, books and essentials – because, at the end of the day, children are our heritage.”

Throughout September, shoppers were encouraged to drop off children’s books, baby essentials, toys and clothing. Local tenants also joined the effort: Jam Horizon contributed funds used to purchase additional items, while Neovision at Kwena Square donated protective sunglasses for the children to use during summer.

The donations were received with gratitude by Just In Time owner, Georgina Caetano.

“We’ve just moved into the area, so this was a wonderful way to get exposure for our organisation. It was an awesome initiative, and we just want to say thank you for thinking about us and for the generosity. I look forward to us doing more together,” she said.

Unathi emphasised that this is a community-driven initiative.

“We all came together to do our bit. Georgina and her team at Just In Time do this every day, and while we do it once in a while, it’s a yearly campaign – and we’ve seen the difference it makes. We’ll probably stick with supporting children for a while.”