Monica wins highest award
A local charity founder has been recognised for her humanitarian work.
MONICA Woodhouse, executive director of Give a Child Family (GCF) in Margate, received the 2016 Lion’s Multiple District 410 Citizen of the Year Award for her humanitarian works with vulnerable children and families.
In November 2015, Lion Sam Podmore of Ramsgate Lions Club nominated Mrs Woodhouse, founder of a local children’s charity, for the award and, after much due diligence, assessment and selection by the district committee, she was selected as the winner.
Joe Preston, chairman of the Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) board of trustees, congratulated Mrs Woodhouse on being awarded a ‘Melvin Jones Fellowship’, which is named after the founder of the Lions Clubs International, Melvin Jones. The ‘Fellowship’ is the highest honour and represents humanitarian qualities such as generosity, compassion and concern for the less fortunate.
“It is largely due to the growth of the fellowship programme that LCIF has been able to meet humanitarian need in the community around the world,” said Mr Preston.
Mrs Woodhouse started her humanitarian work in Port Shepstone in the early ’90s by helping women and children who had been abused in domestic violence in the home.
During the last 25 years she has helped over 80 000 children who have been abandoned, neglected, abused – physically, emotionally and sexually – through holistic programmes, such as healthcare, education, early childhood development, therapy and counselling and nutrition.
GCF was established in 1992 and, during the last 24 years, has developed and implemented a child protection model. A large percentage of children placed at GCF have been neglected, abandoned or removed from their parents due to poverty. During this period, Mrs Woodhouse has built GCF into an organisation that now works across South Africa and in 10 African countries, all with one goal in mind – placing children in secure families.
To date, Mrs Woodhouse’s work at GCF, has helped many vulnerable and orphaned children, many of whom are affected by HIV/Aids in some of the poorest and hardest hit provinces in South Africa. She also works with the community, including over 400 families per year, to ensure family strengthening and to prevent the breakdown of families at risk.
To help Mrs Woodhouse continue her work with the vulnerable, you can make a donation on the website www.gcf.org.za or contact her at 039 3172761.
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