Representatives from six Eastern Cape Woolworths stores recently visited McClelland Adult Centre in East London for the handover of 73 brand new beds and mattresses.  The Woolies store employees teamed up to raise R114 000 for very necessary improvements to be made to the three hostels at the residential facility for intellectually impaired adults.   

73 intellectually disabled adults from all across the Eastern Cape find a home at the McClelland Adult Centre which includes a protective workshop.  The Centre, which was founded in 1952, affords its residents full care as well as the opportunity to develop their potential and live with dignity in a safe and compassionate environment.

Fund-raising for the new beds was a Just Cause team-building initiative that brings Woolies employees together in different regions around South Africa and empowers them to make a difference in their communities.  With R10 000 in seed money from the Woolworths Trust shared between the Eastern Cape stores, employees embarked on various fund-raising activities including in-store raffles and bake sales.  They succeeded in raising R74 000, of which R40 000 was matched by the Woolworths Trust to give them a total of R114 000 to fund new beds for this facility.

“The Just Cause initiative gave our employees the inspiration and means to team up, enter into a healthy inter-store competition and make a difference to the McClelland Adult Centre,” says Donald Harding, the Regional Manager of Woolworths’ Eastern Cape stores.  “It has been a big boost to morale and a great way for us to connect to our communities by supporting an organisation that has been helping intellectually disabled adults and their families in our province for many decades.  We trust that the residents are going to enjoy the good night’s rest in their new beds!”

“Woolworths has indeed made a major difference to our Centre with this very generous donation.  During a visit to our Centre Woolworths representatives established that our beds in the hostels urgently needed replacing and that this was indeed on top of our list of needs.   Our Centre has however not been in a financial position to do so and we needed a substantial investment to make a project like this possible. Vincent Park Store has, for a number of years now, opened their doors to our Centre to collect surplus food on a weekly basis and that in itself is an enormous help to our facility.  We are so grateful for their support and truly feel their care”   says Lizette de Lange-Peach, Centre Manager of McClelland Adult Centre.

Just Cause is part of the Woolworths Employee Community Involvement Programme that encourages clusters of Woolies employees to identify and propose a community cause that they will support through fund-raising.  Over the past year, R1.7 million has been raised by the Woolworths Just Cause initiative, which has been invested in 20 worthy causes across the country that were identified by employees from local Woolies’ stores.