Durban — Hearts have opened and the season of goodwill has brought cheer to the residents of the Aryan Benevolent Home (ABH) in Chatsworth after a surprise donation of R75 000.
ABH’s marketing manager Amraj Dursan told the Independent on Saturday that they had been blown away by the gift from logistics company GoGlobal, and it would go a long way towards making the festive season memorable.
“We need every bit of funds to give our residents a good Christmas and New Year with the festivities we have planned,” said Dursan.
He said GoGlobal had challenged staff in various regions to take part in a “walk to the moon” and promised to match the distance with a monetary contribution. The group that won nominated the ABH as its beneficiary.
The non-profit organisation is home to 400 adults and 102 children, aged between 3 and 90 and who are elderly, disabled or orphaned.
“One of the things we really need on a constant basis is toiletries for the elderly and the little children and what we’ll do (with part of the money) is get toiletries and make them up in gift bags for the residents,” Dursan said.
As a non-profit organisation they were constantly fundraising to service their monthly bills but at times it was “touch and go”, he said.
“Every month we need to generate R1.5million through fundraising to keep our organisation going and it is extremely difficult these days. Donor fatigue is one of the challenges we face and it is tough to consistently bring home that R1.5m,” Dursan said.
Mandy Rooplal, who represented the GoGlobal group, handed the donation to ABH as part of its Go Make A Difference (GoMad) CSI initiative.
“The ABH is tremendously grateful and blessed,” said Dursan.
He said they also needed good durable bedding because they often had to change it up to four times a day.
Anyone else looking to share the wonders of the season with ABH through donations of their time can contact them on pr@abh.co.za or 0314049523.
Independent on Saturday