So as you may be aware, the KZN section of the VW Club recently 'adopted' the Malvern Children's Home as our official charity. Various threads have been created previously in this regard and I thought it prudent to create 1 thread where we can keep a documented history of our activities....
So to summarize our activities to date... an initial thread was created http://www.vwclub.co.za/phpbb3/viewtopi ... 5&t=141709 in which we established that the Malvern Children's Home was the charity we wanted to support, whereafter the following document was compiled, to be used by anyone willing to support the cause (should any of you require a .pdf version of the document, please email me lawrence@vwclub.co.za.
A few of us from Durban (myself, rob_dbn, Raymond Donkin, ScottiesKJ) went through the the home on the evening of 27th September to establish what help was required. We met with the 'mother' of the home, a lady by the name of Naomi who explained to us that the home itself was purchased by Siemens many years ago, and that they also contribute a fixed monthly fee of approximately R17k/month toward the home. This money is required to feed and cloth the children in the home, as well as to pay for the monthly running expenses of the home (water/elec etc). Given that there are 2 young ladies and 5 guys staying there, this
money does not go far...
There are a few areas which the home needs assistance with. These are listed below and will be expanded on later in this post.
1) Improvements and Maintenance of the actual home
2) Monthly 'groceries/toiletries'
3) Mentor ship/Guidance of the children
So our first objective was to try and raise some money and to this end, we decided to host a car wash and raffle with boerie rolls and coldrinks up for sale.
Crazy Detailer, the company from which I purchase a lot of my detailing supplies generously sponsored the products (valued at R582.00) that were required for the car wash, so that all of the money raised on the day would go directly to the cause.
The following thread was created to promote the car wash http://www.vwclub.co.za/phpbb3/viewtopi ... 5&t=146893 which saw us wash a total of 30 cars on Sunday 30 Sep, raising R1500.00. The pics from the car wash can be found here http://www.vwclub.co.za/phpbb3/viewtopi ... 5&t=147142.
Furthermore a raffle was held in which we sold off 26 tickets @R50 each generating an additional R1300.00. Gerald (mortar on the forum) one the raffle and will be receiving a full detail to his car valued at over R1000.00. We would therefore like to extend our gratitude to Volksie, who will be sponsoring the products required to perform the detail.
I will 'donate' by time/skills in conducting the detail, free of charge obviously. I will update this thread with a link to the detail, once done.We then spent R1054.27 purchasing coldrinks/boerewors, rolls, sauces etc with the intention to sell these on the day and generate additional money for the home, however this did not work out as planned and we actually only managed to generate R700.00 on sales
. leaving us with an overall total of R2445.73We now need to see how best we can use this money to meet the needs of the home and our hope is that the the large reach that our forum and club has, will enable us to do this.
Looking at 1) Improvements and Maintenance of the actual home, here are some pics taken on the night of our visit.
The garage has been converted into a makeshift bedroom for 4 of the boys. There is only a roll up garage door protecting them from any would be intruders.
This is what it looks like inside the room
The bunk beds are pushed up against the garage door, which has a thin piece of wood against it, and the wardrobes on the left are placed in front of the only window in the room, the result of which is that there is NO airflow in the room, and it is extremely damp/humid. This is exacerbated by the fact that there is a damp problem as is evidenced in the pics below
The roof in the boys shower has also collapsed
With summer fast approaching and the obvious health concerns caused by the lack of airflow and damp in the room, we believe that this is the first major thing we need to tackle. We believe that the cheapest solution will be to move the existing bunk beds to where the wardrobes are (this will allow for the window to be opened) and to then get rid of the wardrobes and to build some built in cupboards into the recess where the bunk beds are. This will also double up as a sturdier barrier through the garage door for any would be intruders.
We would then like to repair the broken ceiling in the shower and repaint both the shower and room itself, preferably in a paint that has some waterproofing capabilities. ScottiesKJ's and Raymond Donkin have taken ownership of managing wood work side, and so any communication in this regard needs to be coordinated through them. FYI, the bedroom itself is 3m x 6m x 3m high
Additional items requiring attention are:
-The pool pump does not work, but nobody knows why?
-The kitchen cupboards need to be replaced (Raymond provided me with this info - i do not know what it all means but maybe those of you in the cupboard game will, and you can always contact him directly if you need more info.
Floor units: 5x 900mm units x 500mm x 720mm high
1x 900mm corner unit x 720mm high
1x 450mm unit x 500mm x 720mm high
1x 870mm unit x 500mm x 720mm high
Wall units: 5x 900mm units x 300mm x 600mm high.
Each unit to have 1 x shelf
All units to have 2 x doors (excl 450mm unit, only 1 x door)
2) Monthly 'groceries/toiletries'
Any donations in this 'area' will be welcomed. As mentioned there are 5 boys and 2 girls, ranging in age from 19 to 22 who will require toiletries/food/clothing etc and there are the usual household costs for water/electricity etc to be paid.
3) Mentor ship/Guidance of the children
Having spent a short time with the children it is obvious that they are all keen and willing to make a success out of their lives, despite where the hardships they have endured. Some already have employment however others do not and we just believe that there may be opportunity to either provide employment itself, or at the very least, to find out what sort of fields these kids are looking at getting into, and possibly giving of our own time to go and mentor and up skill the kids, thereby giving them a better chance of obtaining employment.
Please note that I would like to keep this thread clean and a running history of our efforts only. I have therefore created a separate thread here where discussions can be held... http://www.vwclub.co.za/phpbb3/viewtopi ... 5&t=147817
More to follow soon.
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