A Monte Vista safe house for abused, abandoned and neglected children has started a crowd-funding campaign for a much-needed vehicle to ferry the kids to various appointments and activities.
Amy Vos and her husband, Bronson, started Nehemiah Safe House, which was registered as a non-profit organisation in March 2016.
“Our motto is turning tears to laughter and we strive for this daily,” Ms Vos said.
“The children are placed with us through a court order. We offer them a loving and safe family environment, where they can heal, grow and experience a happy childhood.”
The safe house is running the fund-raising drive through ThundaFund and hopes to raise R130 000 to buy a “safe vehicle” to replace the small bakkie it uses to transport the children.
“If we reach our tipping point of R40 000, we can use that as a deposit on a vehicle, which will then bring the monthly instalments down,” Ms Vos said.
“If we reach our goal of R130 000, we will be able to pay for the vehicle cash and not have to worry about a monthly instalment.”
The safe house has seven children in its care at the moment and, according to Ms Vos, offers a “loving, secure family home, where they can learn, grow and have fun”.
She is appealing to the community to support the campaign. “We cannot do it alone and we do need some help from the community. Our appeal is to receive support for our ThundaFund campaign as well as long-term support. We like to create relationships with the community. Helping these children is much more than dropping off a gift: we look at building lasting friendships,” she said.
So far, the campaign has 39 backers with more than R26 000 in pledges.
The deadline is Friday April 27.
Nicholas Dilley, of ThundaFund.com, said it was a rewards-based crowdfunding platform helping entrepreneurs and innovators.
“Without individuals like Amy and Bronson, there is little hope of us seeing a decrease in homelessness and abuse,” he said.
Visit www.thundafund.com/project/nehemiah to support the campaign or email amy@bothasig.co.za to find out more about Nehemiah Safe House.