With Christmas right around the corner, the JBay Recycling Project has embarked on a Christmas drive to fill at least 300 bags with delicious treats and toys for all the children who diligently collect recyclable goods from their neighbourhoods, which they then deliver to the organisation’s base in Pellsrus, Jeffreys Bay.
According to Tanja Lategan, JBay Recycling Project coordinator, since the NPO’s inception in 2011, their mission has been to alleviate poverty and pollution by providing access to basic essentials for children, while simultaneously cleaning up the environment and educating the youth about the importance of a healthy environment.
“The effectiveness of the project has been proven and countless children and households have benefited from this community project,” said Lategan.
She said children from the community have been collecting recyclable materials such as plastic, cardboard, tin and glass, which are all categorised and then delivered to the Sunshine Service Centre in Pellsrus every Monday after school.
Lategan further said that once the children hand over the recyclable materials to the volunteers, all items are weighed and earnings are recorded on each child’s specific card as ‘mula’ which is the imaginary currency used at the organisation’s shop.
The children then enter the shop where a volunteer ascertains how much ‘mula’ they have and each child is guided by their own personal shop assistant who shows them around the shop and helps them to choose wisely from the variety of toiletries, food, school supplies and toys available. Most of this stock is donated or bought with donated funds.
Before they leave the shop, they also receive a nutritious snack, fruit and milk to enjoy.
“The concept is simple, we encourage children to keep their streets clean and reward them with things they really need,” said Lategan.
She said each year they put together a small Christmas pack for each child, which is filled with tasty treats, a special toy and a few extra surprises which they hand out on their last day of trading on December 12.
“The last trading day of the year is one of our busiest, and one that the children really look forward to. Handing out Christmas treats is our way of allowing each child to feel a little bit of that wonderful Christmas love, and our last interaction with them before the year ends,” said Lategan.
She further said that they expect approximately 300 children on the day and attempt to allocate at least R50 for each Christmas box.
Lategan said that they initially had to raise R15 000 and have been fortunate enough to raise a total of R10 892 thus far.
“We have always set aside funding for Christmas gifts, and some generous people have contributed out of the blue, but this is the first time we have had a gift fund drive and the response has been incredible,” said Lategan.
She said that they recently approached Gillian Kennedy and her colleagues at Jeffreys Bay Primary School to ask if they would be interested in contributing to the Christmas gift box by hosting a toy drive at the school.
To her delight, the staff and learners enthusiastically embarked on their toy drive from November 15 to 18 and were able to accumulate hundreds of toys.
“We received a video from Gillian which drove us all to tears. The kids donated hundreds of beautiful toys that filled an entire classroom,” said Lategan.
She further said since they are hoping to add treats to the gift bags, they would appreciate donations of sweets and biscuits.
Lategan said that JBay Recycling Project would be packing all the gifts on December 10 at 9 Oosterland Street, Jeffreys Bay, and everyone is welcome to join and can RSVP to jbayrecyclingproject@gmail.com.
- For more information or to contribute to the Christmas gift drive visit the JBay Recycling Project website www.jbayrecyclingproject.org.
