ABERDEEN NEWS - At the beginning of July, the Advertiser reported on a campaign initiated by Sabelo Mbi, Wellness Champion at Penny Farthing, to collect school socks for needy learners at Aberdeen’s three primary schools.
On Tuesday of this week, 143 pairs of socks were handed over to the principals of Aberdeen Full Service School, Kamdeboo Primary School and Luxolo Intermediate School during a short ceremony at the Penny Farthing Offices. Mbi, together with Traffic Safety Officer Leonard Rogers and SMEC Consultants’ Route Manager Danré Gerber and Assistant Route Manager Mèran Arnolds, presented each principal with over 40 pairs of socks for their learners.
About half of the socks were donated by members of the community in response to Penny Farthing’s appeal, and subcontractors and consultants of the company were also keen to participate. One SMEC consultant was actually the biggest donor, adding 13 pairs of socks to the collection!
Jan Mathiale, principal of Luxolo intermediate School, spoke on behalf of all the principals and thanked Penny Farthing for organising the project. He acknowledged that many of the learners at his school are from poor families, who cannot afford to buy such a basic necessity for their children. Mathiale added that he hoped that having a pair of warm socks to wear would encourage the children to come to school during the very cold weather.
About half of the socks were donated by members of the community in response to Penny Farthing’s appeal, and subcontractors and consultants of the company were also keen to participate.
The principals agreed that each would ask his school’s Learner Support Agent to allocate the socks –these staff members deal with the social needs of the learners and would be in the best position to decide on the neediest and deserving children.
Those members of the community who had also supported the project were thanked by the principals and the organisers.
Mbi is keen to organise more outreach programmes in the community and is very willing to receive input from residents to identify areas of need.
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