Take action. Inspire change. Make every day a Mandela Day.
Mandela Day, celebrated annually on July 18th, provides an incredible opportunity to take collective action and leave a lasting impact in honour of Nelson Mandela. Together, we must build a safe, prosperous future for everyone.
Here is how you can get involved at preschools
Host an event at a local school. Here are some ideas:
Host a reading morning at a school and contribute to the school library
Show children it’s fun to read. Bring books to add to the school’s reading corner and host a fun reading morning. You could get creative and dress up, use puppets or act out the story – anything to make reading time fun! Consider giving each child a book to take home, nurturing their love for reading beyond the school setting.
Teach children about healthy eating
Healthy body, healthy mind. Bring healthy ingredients and lunchboxes to the school and show the children how to make a healthy lunchbox. Teach them about fruits, vegetables, meat, fats and grains and show them that eating healthy is delicious. Afterwards, eat your healthy lunches together. By educating children about healthy choices, we contribute to their overall well-being.
Play fun games with the children and bring along a treat
Children learn through play. Engaging with adults, playing individual and group games builds mental muscle since we learn to socialise, follow rules and increase our confidence. How about surprising the hardworking teachers with a treat, like cupcakes, allowing them to enjoy a well-deserved break while you and your team host fun games and activities for these children. Most centres have basic equipment like balls and hoola hoops, but you could also bring them along.
Donate to make a difference: Finding Thabo Literacy Initiative
Finding Thabo is an interactive play-based ‘Where’s Wally’ inspired game designed to stimulate key parts of the brain and build foundations for lifelong learning. These activities have been developed by a team of education experts from The Learning Initiative (Psychologist, Occupational Therapists and Speech and Language Therapists) to specifically target learning deficits that are common in children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
We (Grow ECD) have been working with the Finding Thabo team to integrate their incredible resource into our teacher training modules and bring these resources to life in our classroom as a complementary resource to enrich learning through play. Recently we all heard the shocking national Literacy results. 80% of Grade 4 children cannot read and write for meaning. While Grow’s curriculum already has a strong focus on literacy development we are bolstering that support by working with partners like Finding Thabo to supplement our classrooms and equip our teachers with even more play-based resources.
The cost price is R195 per resource and includes a high-quality A2 poster kit and a Teacher Activity Guidebook. Grow hosts a half-day of training to show teachers exactly how to use the equipment and how to implement it. Our vision is to equip 300 teachers with this training and resource. That means we need R58 000 to equip 300 classrooms.
Donate to make a difference: Healthy breakfasts for preschool children
Help us give young children who attend preschools from Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg a healthy breakfast every day! Each meal costs R1,87.
Important things to note:
- Ask the preschool what help they need – don’t make assumptions. You might think the school needs a coat of paint, but in reality, they might need new, clean mattresses for nap time, age-appropriate books for their reading corner, stationery for their weekly classroom art activities, or a CPR course for a teacher, or help connecting with the right people.
- Volunteer your unique skills. Most preschools don’t need another mural on their wall and they don’t need a teacher. They need practical support and skills. Ask your local preschool how you can use your unique skills to assist them. Handy? Fix lights or gutters or doors. Social media queen? Help the school set up a professional profile on Google My Business and Facebook. Organiser? Help the school with its filing and administration. Designer? Create staff t-shirts or a leaflet.
- Maximum 4 people to visit a school. Preschools cannot accommodate large volumes of guests since it’s overwhelming for the children. Most schools have between 25 and 60 children and up to 5 staff members.
- Fundraise as a team towards a specific need that the school has identified. It might be new pots and spoons for the kitchen, outside play equipment or a box of Duplo. Identify a financial need and start a fundraising campaign with your colleagues and friends. Set a goal and you’ll be surprised how everyone can pitch in to achieve it.
How to make your donation:
OPTION 1: Donate Online
https://www.givengain.com/c/groweducare/
OPTION 2: Donate Via Direct Bank Transfer
- Make an EFT deposit into the bank account below
- Use your Surname or Company Name as the reference
- Email helene@growecd.org.za to confirm which campaign or preschool we should allocate your funds to.
Our Banking Details:
Account Name: GW Foundation
Bank: Investec Bank Limited
Branch: 100 Graystone drive
Branch Code: 580105
Type of Account: Current Account
Account Number: 10011899076
BIC / SWIFT CODE: IVESZAJJXXX
Your tax benefits for doing good
Need more info? How to make your donation:
- All financial donations qualify for tax deductions.
- We supply Section 18A tax certificates on your request.
EMAIL: fundraising@growecd.org.za
CALL: 082 671 1441