Incredibly, the last term of 2021 starts next week.
COVID continued to throw curveballs at society from July to September. These were handled to the best of our ability, bearing in mind that our priorities are always the best interests of the children we serve, their families and the safety of our volunteer team.
6 successful trading days were hosted, with just short of 8,100kg recyclables delivered by the children. Thanks to continued support from Food Lover’s Market, Woodlands/ First Choice Dairy and Let’s Feed JBay, every participant went home with fruit, milk and porridge after their visit. This makes a real difference in a food insecure household.
We have seen an encouraging surge in demand for sports equipment – shiny soccer boots @ 30 Mula (15kg plastic) are helping to encourage the young boys to save and teaching them a life skill which many adults lack. We can’t keep up with stock of used tennis racquets and tennis balls, as well as golf clubs and golf balls.
Everyone was overjoyed when the Jozana family managed to save enough so that their 2 daughters could each earn a brand new bicycle – first a pink one with training wheels, and a few weeks later a bright orange and blue 20-inch beauty for big sis.
Partnerships
Support from, and supporting, our fellow NPO’s is always such a pleasure. On Eagle’s Wings are a community counselling service. We have ordered over 1,400 children’s face masks, in batches, from Pastor Mercy’s team. They are comfortable and sturdy, and available to the children for just 1 Mula. The One Village vegetable garden is thriving and our standing weekly order of 40 bunches of spinach almost always sells out. Another highlight was facilitating a donation of 100 books to the library next door.
Burglaries
Sadly, we experienced 4 break-ins over a period of 12 days. The thieves realized that our stock doesn’t amount to a lot in resale value, and 3 bicycles was the total taken. Structural repairs cost quite a lot more, though. Fortunately, between Henry, Andre, Mr Viljoen and Deon, most of the labour was taken care of. Additional measures, like an internal security door and a roof alarm beam have been arranged. SAPS and ADT were very helpful throughout. These incidents have emphasized the challenges of living in a low income socio-economic climate, but will only encourage us to continue to make a positive impact.
Donors
To all who support JBay Recycling Project, whether financially, through donations or promoting the project: you are empowering children and advancing Education, Connection, Awareness and Responsibility. Thank you for allowing our volunteers to serve this community.
Disappointingly, we have been informed that our 9-year partnership with Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm will come to an end in March 2022. We are busy applying to alternative sources, and welcome any suggestions in this regard.
It’s always a little dangerous to single anyone out, but we would like to make an exception and mention Maarten from MOJO Properties and Mr Bezuidenhout, who quietly deposit funds into the project account every month without fail, and have done so for many years.
Volunteers
Once again, the Christian Surfers Academy for Leadership Training and the Jeffreys Bay Primary School Caring Kids have been invaluable assistants to our regular volunteer team. They even changed their schedule in order to be on site during the busiest times.
While we are singling people out, Pamela Scales has been a volunteer since 2011, missing a trading day very rarely, when she is out of town. This means that our regular visitors have known her for most of their lives. Pam is British, but she has turned any language barrier into an asset with her sense of humour and expressive gestures. She makes shopping such fun for the kids! Pam has taken charge of “Bernie’s Boutique” – our red clothing container, and alerts us to any stock shortages after trading days. They say no-one is irreplaceable – but Pam comes very close!