LEARNERS and teachers from Elsen Academy in Central recently made a trip to Addo and Kirkwood in support of a fund-raising campaign for the school.
Elsen Academy is a private school that caters for children with learning barriers who are unable to attend larger mainstream schools. Their focus is on developing each child to reach their potential in a nurturing and structured environment.
With no government subsidies, they endeavour to keep school fees to a minimum. The Grades 3 to 7 learners and their teachers had a blast helping out with the latest fund-raising campaign.
Their first stop was at the packing house of a citrus farm in Kirkwood, which is run by one of the parents, Clint Mac Aleer. He initiated the fundraising idea whereby the school is able to purchase citrus from the farm at extremely competitive prices.
Mac Aleer was on hand to take the children through the process of packaging the fruit.
This was followed by a short drive to the orchard, where the children delighted in picking oranges.
At Mac Aleer’s suggestion, a visit to Addo Wildlife was included in the expedition. Despite chilly conditions, the children were undeterred and after their educational and fun outing, arrived back in Port Elizabeth at the end of the day, exhausted but enriched from their experience.
The Elsen Academy staff are running this campaign, selling citrus to parents and the public at below market prices.
The school appealed to groups and individuals to support them in their efforts. At present oranges are sold at R15 per 10kg bag and lemons at R15 per 4kg bag. Orders may be placed via e-mail to viv@elsen.co.za and collected every Wednesday afternoon for the duration of the citrus season.
