ITWeb and Aurea Marketing have teamed up to create the ITWeb Kids Haven Charity Challenge, a three-week project to raise funds for Kids Haven. We know that IT people want to help kids to reach their potential but do not always know how to get involved. This is an ideal opportunity to support a proven charity that works with street kids.
On our trip to work and our return home in the evening, we all see street kids begging at intersections. We are never sure of what happens to the money we give them. There is another option. We can support Kids Haven, an established charity that has a structure to support the kids with a caring home environment, clothing, food and schooling.
Kids Haven was founded in 1992 and has grown to include a village of six houses where the kids live with their house parents. There is also a walk-in centre in Benoni, including dormitories and a bridging school. The bridging programme is essential as the kids are at various levels when they come in from the street. This is a way of filling the gaps in their education to get them ready for school.
The focus at Kids Haven is on providing the kids with a normal childhood, or as best as possible. Most of the kids have come from extreme poverty or abusive families, so there is a huge adjustment for them. They need to start trusting people and to understand what is normal behaviour. The wonderful part in all this is that so many of them do succeed and become productive members of our community.
Susan Daly, fundraiser at Kids Haven, said: "We are very pleased to have this opportunity to raise funds for the kids. We receive very limited support from government and need to create a support base that we can rely on every month. By having a fixed income every month, we are able to budget and to use our finances more effectively. An individual or company can contribute a small amount by debit order, but when all the debit orders are added together, it makes a huge difference to us."
Kids Haven also runs events throughout the year, for example it hosted a very successful theatre evening last November. These events are ideal for companies wanting to entertain their clients and at the same time support a charity.
There is an opportunity to participate in this incredible success story. The ITWeb Kids Haven Charity Challenge will run for three weeks. ITWeb has donated its time and is hosting a page where you can enter your details and Kids Haven will contact you. There will be a prize draw every week where participants could win a Microsoft game donated by Comztek.
Some companies and individuals have already signed up. These include Claire Clarke from Axiz, Grant Hamilton from Dimension Data, Aurea Marketing, Livewired Communications and Vertex. We are challenging other individuals and companies to participate.
Click here to register.
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