The Helderberg Stroke Support Group (HSSG) received a donation of R37 000 from The Store, a small secondhand clothing shop in Somerset West, on November 3.
The Store hosts an annual three-day charity clothing sale every October, and all proceeds are donated to one deserving charity.
Over the past nine years, The Store has raised over R220 000 for various local, non-profit organisations.
This includes the Bizweni Centre for Disabled Children, Patch, The Gabriella Centre, Isibali, the Township Animal Rescue and Rape Crisis Helderberg.
The HSSG has been assisting stroke survivors and their families in the Helderberg Basin since 1993.
Stroke survivors and people with disabilities are a marginalised group and, as such, not many grants are awarded to support them.
HSSG runs four programmes: rehabilitation, training and education, stroke prevention, and advocacy for the rights of people with disabilities.
People with disabilities are particularly vulnerable, and were hard hit by Covid-19 and lockdown.
In response to this, a fifth programme, Covid-response, was launched by HSSG this year.
The programme aims to assist stroke survivors with food and relief parcels and home exercise programmes.
This year alone, HSSG is assisting 295 stroke survivors and their families in the Helderberg Basin and Grabouw.
These numbers are escalating daily, and there is a desperate need to provide support to the impoverished communities supported by HSSG.
Over 1 000 food parcels have been delivered since April.
The Store continues to strive to support local charities and NPOs in the Helderberg Basin, and in spite of the Covid-19 challenges, was able to call on the support of customers and staff to prepare for the 2020 sale.
“This year, with so much focus on Covid-19, we decided to assist a charity that was helping local communities most severely impacted by this pandemic,” says the owner of The Store, Stephanie Hendriksz.
“The HSSG is working with one of our most vulnerable communities and we hope that we have, in our small way, empowered this inspiring organisation to continue their amazing work.
“We hope that The Store’s donation helps HSSG to distribute more food parcels to those in need,” she said.
HSSG chairman, Marian Engelbrecht, said: “We are very grateful to The Store for this generous donation to be able to continue to support the stroke survivors in our communities.
“A portion of the funds will be allocated to food parcels as part of our ongoing Covid-Response Programme. Thank you to Stephanie and her wonderful team.”
