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Christel House South Africa

30 learners get free education

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:52

Learners at Christel House South Africa (CHSA), the independent school for disadvantaged children in Cape Town, will be able to go to school and get one of the best educations on offer for the next three years thanks to a generous R900 000 donation by G.U.D Holdings Pty Ltd, South Africa's leading automotive filter brand manufacturer.

The donation, which forms part of a long-term partnership between G.U.D and Christel House, will see 30 learners who excel at maths and science receive R10 000 each towards their tuition and general requirements in their Grade 10, 11 and 12 year.

In addition to the R900 000 donation, the company is also making apprenticeships available to the students who do well and impress G.U.D over the next three years. The donation was “extremely generous”, said Sharon Williams, director of marketing and development, speaking at the celebratory hand-over which took place recently at the school. “But what really makes it so valuable is the investment that the company is making in the learners of the school.

We encourage corporates to come on board as partners, so we are more than grateful to G.U.D for recognising the value of our education model and trusting in it enough to invest in us,” she said.

Red Shuttleworth, Managing Director of G.U.D Holdings Pty Ltd, said that as partnerships go, there will be benefits for both parties. “I would like to believe that this donation and Learnership opportunity will be of great worth to CHSA – and will really motivate these senior learners to do well and work towards joining our company as interns and hopefully making it a possible future career. In exchange we get to welcome some bright new minds into the organisation – and that is very exciting.”

He added that G.U.D’s CSI mission has never been about just giving away money (the company has a number of partnerships with charities and schools in KwaZulu-Natal where their Head Office is based). “We are really more interested in seeing the development happen and I believe this is a great way to make a sustainable difference to the school, its learners, their families and hopefully even their communities.”

According to Shuttleworth, G.U.D. heard about Christel House through one of its board members, Wayne Grews, CEO of AutoZone. Later several G.U.D execs visited the school and were extremely impressed by the work that they were doing, he said. Grews added, “I would like to thank Red Shuttleworth and his team from G.U.D for their generous donation; the proceeds of which will make a huge difference to the lives of the children they are sponsoring.

“This school continues to give its pupils from some of Cape Town’s poorest communities a pathway out of poverty through an educational experience based on key values such as merit, hope, discipline and hard work. The 100% matric pass rate over the past two years is also testament to the enormous successes being achieved at the school.

It is therefore easy, in speaking about CHSA, to show companies like G.U.D that their donations go right to the heart of breaking the cycle of poverty and that there is a transparent, direct return on their donations,” said Grews.

“You have inspired me”, said Shuttleworth to the CHSA learners, “I believe by investing in you we are investing in the future of South Africa.” Please visit Christel House for more information.