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At least 25 Hankey Primary School children will start the school year with a good pair of school shoes, donated by community member, Hazel Booysen, who has partnered with three local farming groups to help children in need.
As previously reported by Kouga Express, Booysen had embarked on a school shoe donation drive in December last year to accumulate school shoes for the underprivileged children in her community.
Driven by the desire to see unity among learners from different financial backgrounds and to boost the self-esteem of those less fortunate, she quickly spread the word about her school shoe drive to ensure that she could accumulate between 15 to 20 pairs of shoes once the new school year started.
Booysen said that she sent letters to various shops, including Pep stores, to request their contribution to her initiative.
When she began in December, she received only two pairs of school shoes but, to her surprise, there was a much bigger donation to come. After learning about the good work she does in the community, local farming groups, Le Roux Broers, Kleinrivier Boerdery and Mooihoek Farming, donated a total of 25 pairs of Bata school shoes.
“I was overjoyed by the donations of shoes. I was hoping to receive at least 15 pairs of school shoes for the underprivileged but to my surprise I received 25,” said Booysen of the donation.
She said she has identified 25 orphaned children at Hankey Primary School who will each receive a new pair of school shoes on January 30, which she hopes will contribute positively to their education.
“I plan to donate the school shoes to children who have been left orphaned because they do not have parents to help support them financially,” said Booysen.
In addition to the school shoes, grades 6 and 7 female learners will receive sanitary towels on the day.
Booysen, who established the Hankey-based homework centre, Tutor Spot – and runs a holiday programme for the children in her community – plans to host the school shoe drive later this year again to help learners at the start of the 2024 school year.
She also plans to continue her matric farewell initiative that helps underprivileged learners have the farewell of their dreams, and she will be accumulating food and essential supplies for the less fortunate which will be handed over in December.
Co-owner of Le Roux Broers, Noel Le Roux, said that the farming groups in the Hankey area have always worked towards giving back to the community through investments.
He said he learnt about Booysen’s Tutor Spot and felt inspired to contribute to her good work by arranging an additional homework centre in the area.
Le Roux said once he began to work alongside Booysen, she informed him about her school shoe donation drive and he quickly began working with Hankey Spar, and at least two other farming groups to get her started on her project.
“It is important for children to have a good education so that they can provide for themselves in the future because education contributes to a better community,” said Le Roux.
“Education is everything and this is why we decided to get involved with this project.”
