Boot camp lends a helping hand
JOBURG - Usindiso Ministries' shelter for abused and homeless women and their children will receive a welcome boost to their funds, thanks to a women's fitness programme.
Adventure Boot Camp for Women’s Norwood and Illovo branches, run by franchise owner and trainer Michelle Rozowsky, dedicated their annual fundraising challenge to the shelter in Marshalltown, in Johannesburg’s CBD.
Rozowsky said each boot camp member was tasked to find 10 people to sponsor them R10 to perform a 30-minute fitness challenge.
“This small initiative can go a long way to uplift the lives of many women and children who have been victims of abuse and violence,” she said.
According to Rozowsky, her branches’ “small initiative” raised R42 000 for the shelter.
Previous Adventure Boot Camp fundraising challenges had donated money to various cancer charities, but this year the national focus was placed on abused women through the 60 Days of Activism campaign.
Rozowski said the Cape Town and outlying branches would raise funds for Cape Town’s Saartjie Baartman Centre, while Gauteng branches would raise funds for Usindiso Ministries.
Usindiso’s shelter cares for up to 150 abused, traumatised and/or destitute women and between 45 and 60 children.
The shelter’s main objectives are to accommodate and care for these women and their children, to provide pre-schooling for children in the shelter as well as children from the surrounding area, to offer a day-care facility for the children of the women in the shelter, and advocacy, lobbying and research.
The shelter also aims to reunite abused and homeless women with their families, or, if reconciliation is not possible, to find a permanent placement for rehabilitated women outside the shelter.
The shelter provides wellness, leadership, and parenting skills training, substance abuse education through South African National Council on Alcoholism, and skills development and training.
Details: www.adventurebootcamp.co.za; www.usindisoministries.co.za
