{"id":4769,"date":"2011-10-19T15:30:28","date_gmt":"2011-10-19T13:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/10\/wild-about-giving-back\/"},"modified":"2011-10-19T15:30:28","modified_gmt":"2011-10-19T13:30:28","slug":"wild-about-giving-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wild-about-giving-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild About Giving Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Sundays River community is benefiting from the annual Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees.<\/p>\n

Proceeds from the non-profit Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees are ploughed back into the community through tourism promotion and support for a number of charities and support organisations.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, September 28, organisers of the Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees handed over R17 000 worth of blankets, toys and treats to five needy cr\u00e8ches in the Sunday River Valley\u00a0 area including Neskuikens cr\u00e8che, Aqua Park Edu Care centre, Khanyise cr\u00e8che, Olie Oliphant cr\u00e8che and Nolukhanye cr\u00e8che.<\/p>\n

The kids and caretakers were delighted with the gifts. \u201cThis is going to help us so much,\u201d said Susan Pietersen\u00a0 from Aqua Park Edu Care centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t get any funding from government and we rely on donations from the public. These toys, pencils and blankets will really help us offer the kids a better education.\u201d The centre daily caters for approximately 80 children aged between two and eight years old.<\/p>\n

The annual Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees began 10 years ago as an initiative to help promote and expand tourism in the Sundays River Valley.<\/p>\n

Over the years, it has grown into one of the most successful community festivals in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees is run as a non-profit organisation and contributes directly to the upliftment of the local community,\u201d says festival director Jenni Honsbein.<\/p>\n

Proceeds from the festival are also used to support the Kirkwood tourism office during the year.<\/p>\n

Councillor Frans Adams assisted with the handover to Neskuikens cr\u00e8che in Bergsig. \u201cThe Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees really does give back to the community,\u201d he said during the handover.<\/p>\n

\u201cI applaud the ladies that run the cr\u00e8che for all of their hard work, and I hope that these items will help make a difference in the kids\u2019 lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aqua Park cr\u00e8che educates over 50 children aged between two and four years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really grateful to the Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees for their generous gifts,\u201d said headmistress, Patricia Lourens. \u201cWe really enjoy our jobs and we learn so much from the kids. These items will help us offer a better learning experience for the children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khanyise cr\u00e8che in Moses Mabida also received a generous package of blankets and toys. Mayor Mbulelo Kebe assisted in the handover.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees is a good initiative for the valley. As a municipality, we are coming on board and will be participating more in the event. It is a critical stakeholder in the development of this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

More items were distributed to the children of Olie Oliphant cr\u00e8che in Valencia and Nolukhanye cr\u00e8che in Nomathamsanqa.<\/p>\n

Community worker, Muffy Miller also helped in the handovers. Miller opened the first cr\u00e8che in the Langbos township in 1990 and has been working tirelessly to set up and fund cr\u00e8ches throughout the Addo and Kirkwood area. She is assisted by the Mayibuye Development Trust. \u201cWe are absolutely delighted with these gifts from the Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees. They are so appreciated!\u201d<\/p>\n

The cr\u00e8ches and care centres receive very little government support, and rely on volunteers and sponsors to look after and educate an average of 50 youngsters every day. \u201cAt one of the cr\u00e8ches, we found babies sleeping on cold tiles in a shack. Thanks Absa, we were able to provide sponge mattresses for them.\u00a0 We are humbled to be able to make a difference in the lives of these children who are at risk,\u201d says Honsbein.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to our Sponsors and the team for the organisation that went in to these handovers, and we hope to see more success stories like this in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees will take place from 29 June to 01 July, 2012.<\/p>\n

\"Jenni<\/a><\/p>\n

Kirkwood Mayor Mbulelo Kebe and Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees festival director Jenni Honsbein celebrate the handover with kids from the Khanyise cr\u00e8che in Moses Mabida<\/p>\n

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The Sundays River community is benefiting from the annual Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees. Proceeds from the non-profit Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees are ploughed back into the community through tourism promotion and support for a number of charities and support organisations. On Wednesday, September 28, organisers of the Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees handed over R17 000 worth of blankets, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1289,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-4769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-mype","8":"tag-port-elizabeth-2","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}