Stats and Christmas
The year has flown by and we are busy with preparations to give 300 children each a Christmas gift on our last trading day. This will consist of a food parcel and a pre-loved toy. Please check our website for details. This gift is a small “thank you” to our young recyclers. Over 31 trading days from January until the end of October 2024, they paid us 5,088 visits, preventing 89,000 kg of recyclable materials from having to be transported to the landfill in Humansdorp.
New partners
The owners of our private recycling company partner for 10 years, Enviroman, sold their business to Extreme Enviro Recyclers. This has worked out well for everyone, as they have absorbed the staff we know and love and are continuing our mutually beneficial relationship. A great result.
Our local authority, Kouga Municipality has really stepped up over the past 6 months. We received a 3 year financial commitment from them and they have been as good as their word, upgrading our shared community centre to improve ease of use to the children and elderly. Toilets have been replaced, floors tiled, a fresh coat of paint applied, roof leaks fixed, weighing and outside walking areas paved and we have received donations of bags and trolleys. Thank you, Christa, Glen and team for making it easier for us to serve the residents of Jeffreys Bay alongside you.
Committee members Kelly and Clair gave a presentation about the project to some dignitaries at the WSL surf contest in July. Since then we have been in regular contact with Jane Keating and her colleagues at the Australian Embassy. We have received financial donations as well as 3 huge boxes crammed full of loads of carefully selected items for the swop shop. We are hopeful that this relationship will continue and they will visit in person soon.
Thank you
Of course this been possible thanks to the volunteers who so generously give their time on Mondays. A conservatively estimate is around 1,800 volunteer-hours so far this year, dedicated to empowering the children with priceless empathy, kindness and joy. Every individual makes a huge difference, but we do want to mention Victory Gap Year, CSALT, JBay Surf House, Jeffreys Bay Primary School, Ticket to Ride and Island Vibe for organizing groups to volunteer. Our reliable “set up” team – Jeanette, Dionne, Isabelle, Ursula and co.: thank you for making preparations fun. Another special mention (this could go on) should be the De Wet family: Mariska and kids, it’s always wonderful to see you arrive just as our energy is flagging towards the end of a long day.
Every donor who sees value in partnering with JBay Recycling Project encourages our team to be even more dedicated to this project. From the family donating pre-loved toys, to the elderly lady who knits a cute teddy, to supporters from the US, Germany, Belgium, the UK and Australia who post parcels full of beautiful and useful items or donate through PayPal, please know that every single contribution improves the life of a child. This project aims to nurture children by allowing them to earn what they need to stay in school, maintain personal hygiene and so their dignity, to address food poverty and provide access to toys to encourage physical and emotional development.
When we launched fundraisers for school uniforms, fleecy “onesies” which serve as pyjamas and tracksuits, soccer boots and sneakers, the donations rolled in. So many children were completely overwhelmed when they could go home with a precious new item to proudly show off and to help them sleep warm, exercise or attend school comfortably.
Thanks to an anonymous donor, who wants their financial donation to be used towards healthy food, we now stock some new items: noodle kits with added veggies and soya, eggs, Amasi (a traditional fermented yoghurt-like dairy product) and fresh bread. We have also dropped the prices of many of our stock items, like the porridge, tinned fish and beans etc.
In April we met the CSI representative from Food Lover’s Market, the dynamic Ridhwana, who affirmed their continued support and even increased the value of their donation. We are so pleased that the children will continue to be rewarded with lovely fresh fruit on every visit.
We have once again applied for support in the form of long life milk from Woodlands/ First Choice Dairy next year. Thanks to Mandla and his colleagues, over the past 6 years, each recycler can choose to enjoy some milk with their snack on site or to take it home to use with breakfast or tea.
Our biggest news of the year is undoubtedly that we were approved for funding by the National Lotteries Commission. By the time these funds were paid into our account in August, our bank account would only have sustained the project for another 3-4 months. Needless to say, we are very relieved and grateful for their support which will cover around 70% of our annual expenses. Our treasurer Sue deserves so much credit for persevering with the Lotto application – a daunting task.
Lunch
Every child who participates in the project, spending time cleaning their neighbourhood, making sure they arrive in time on Monday and patiently waiting in line for their turn to find out how many Mula they have earned, receives a freshly prepared meal. Two popular local restaurants; Infood and Nina’s each generously prepare and donate 200 meals once a month. Recently, we have been able to fund a third Monday meal prepared by the Sunshine Old Age Group, which shares our premises. This enables them to earn a little pocket money and the children to enjoy a delicious vetkoek with mince.
Challenges
Frustratingly, we experienced 2 break-ins in August. The thieves took 2 bicycles and 6 boxes filled with donated school shoes – a big loss. This forced us to improve security at the premises – an expense we had not factored in. When we appealed to our friends at Stewardship International in the UK for assistance they very kindly agreed immediately to fund these upgrades.
Due to the modern conditions of busy-ness and overstimulation, our annual art auction unfortunately didn’t gain enough support to go ahead in Spring. We are so thankful to Loretha and Marie for organizing it so many times in the past and to all the artists and attendees over the years. There are whisperings of fresh ideas and we are looking forward to an exciting new format in 2025.