Karen Spurrier (StreetSmart Plettenberg Bay Co-ordinator) Melanie Burke (StreetSmart SA Chairman) and Rose Grundlingh (StreetSmart Plettenberg Bay Committee member)
StreetSmart SA, an organisation dedicated to helping street children rebuild their lives through donations from restaurants in the Western Cape and Gauteng, has handed R50 000 to Masizame Children’s Shelter, their Plettenberg Bay beneficiary for 2016.
Masizame offers food, a shower, life-skills training, mentorship and guidance to street children. This is followed up by intervention services with the goal of helping children to reach their full potential and become responsible contributing members of their communities.
“We are extremely proud to have doubled the efforts of last year and to be able to contribute to Masizame. We hope to double that yet again in the coming year!” said Karen Spurrier, co-ordinator of StreetSmart Plettenberg Bay.
Nationally, StreetSmart South Africa has donated the grand sum of R1,05 million for 2016 to various charities working towards the upliftment of street children. In addition to Masizame, the other beneficiaries are: Cape Town Multi Service Centre, Home from Home, Learn to Live, Ons Plek, T.L.C. Outreach Projects, Zip Zap Circus in Cape Town; Kusasa in Franschhoek, Home from Home in Stellenbosch, Grabow ECD Centre in Helderberg, Kids Haven in Johannesburg, Swellendam Bursary Fund in Swellendam; and PEN in Pretoria.
Melanie Burke (StreetSmart SA Chairman)
“2015 has been another exceptional year for StreetSmart SA! We celebrated 10 years, expanded our support to 23 programmes, and for the second time, StreetSmart has disbursed over R1 million to beneficiaries nationally. We are thrilled to continue our support of the selected StreetSmart Plettenberg Bay beneficiary for 2016. This is only possible through successful local partnerships and promoting responsible giving via StreetSmart restaurants,” said Melanie Burke, Chairman of StreetSmart SA.
StreetSmart Restaurateurs and their diners are joining hands to make a difference in their communities supporting organisations that are actively involved with social development and rehabilitation of street children with the ultimate goal of family re-unification. Funds are raised by adding a R5 donation to each table’s bill at the participating restaurants. This donation is voluntary and diners are able to contribute more if they wish to.
Barries Ferreira, Financial Administrator for Masizame with Melanie Burke (StreetSmart SA Chairman)
The Fat Fish restaurant was the leading contributing restaurant in Plettenberg Bay over the past year, with R14,995 in donations received. “We are grateful to every patron of The Fat Fish who so generously contributed to StreetSmart; such a credible organisation. I invite all Plett restaurants to unite with us to give Plett’s street children a future!” said Simon Ash, owner of The Fat Fish Restaurant.
StreetSmart SA was set up in 2005 by a group of concerned Capetonians under the patronage of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and comprises resourceful board members representing business and the hospitality and tourism industries. Similar StreetSmart organisations also run independently in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, USA – San Francisco and The Netherlands.
StreetSmart SA is registered as a Public Benefit Organisation as well as a Non- Profit Organisation and ensures that every cent donated by diners goes towards social and educational upliftment projects for street children. StreetSmart’s goal is to be part of the process of social normalisation and to encourage the public not to give money into the hands of a child as this keeps them on the streets. In essence, eating and donating at a StreetSmart restaurant is the responsible way to help a street child.
For more information or to make a donation, contact StreetSmart at Tel: 021 418 0621 email info@streetsmartsa.org.za or visit www.streetsmartsa.org.za.
Issued on behalf of StreetSmart by:
GC Communications
Contact: Chante Johannes
Tel: +27 (21) 462 0520
Email: info@gc-com.co.za
