CAPE TOWN - The smiles of 400 children lit up the afternoon in Atlantis during a special Easter party on Tuesday.
The children, from 30 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, as well as more disadvantaged children, were hosted by Coronation Fund Managers and food security non-profit organisation Ladles of Love, that spoilt them with hotdogs, teddy bears and easter eggs.
Luberon Educare is dependent on donations to feed the children, and at times the principal and teachers need to dig into their own pockets to provide the children with a meal for the day.
“We are in need of funding and donations, we have been waiting for two years only for a certificate due to the re-registration, which is a long process.
“We do a lot of things out of our own pockets because we want to educate our children, it is not about the money for me but about that toddler because what is going to happen if we leave that toddler behind,” said Felicity Lambret, principal of Luberon Educare.
Lambret, who has been in the ECD for 32 years said she took six children from her surroundings and registered them at the crèche, however they do not attend everyday because the parents cannot afford to pay their fees.
Wendy Bergsteedt, CSI representative for Coronation said struggling communities like Atlantis needed to be helped.
Founder of Ladles of Love, Danny Diliberto, said their focus was to provide food relief for ECD’s, older people and people who cannot help themselves.
“Food is a basic human right, we can’t live without it and there is enough food to go around for everyone, we should not be in a society where some have food and others don’t. Ladles is about distributing nutritious food to people who need it and we will continue to do that for as long as we are around,” said Diliberto.
Melony Andrews, chairperson of the Atlantis ECD Directive said there was a huge need for food security in Atlantis.
“If we can just get our food covered then we can make sure the child gets a nutritious meal and our teachers get paid a decent salary, if the parents don’t pay then our teachers do not get paid enough.”
“In Atlantis you run on your heart, we have to go and source extra funding for our children therefore Ladles of Love have been a big plus for us or else we would have been struggling,” said Abrahams.
Cape Times