Category: News

There was great excitement when members of the Nazareth Youth Club arrived at DCYCC in their big van, and unloaded 35 large buckets filled with non perishable food items.

The Youth Club of the Nazareth Family Church in Chatsworth, hosted a food Bucket Challenge amongst their young people in support of our Buckets of Love and Hugs Campaign for the June/July Holidays.

The buckets were handed to 35 young people under the care of the Durban Child & Youth Care Centre, who had the opportunity to go home during the holidays to spend time with their families. Our young people were also treated to snacks and enjoyed a morning session of singing with the visitors. Thank you, Nazareth Youth Club, for your wonderful support!

In addition, the Grade 5 pupils from Berea Primary School collected toiletry items to add to the buckets in response to their schools “Play It Forward” campaign. Their efforts are much appreciated.

Thank you so much to everyone involved in filling the buckets, and to the lovely young people who came to deliver them. Your kindness made a huge difference to our June/July Holidays Buckets Campaign!

Children have the right to be protected from violence, exploitation and abuse – and National Child Protection Week raises awareness of these rights.

At the Durban Child & Youth Care Centre, we participated in a number of activities with our children during the week to show them what their rights are as children in South Africa and how we as an organisation strive to meet their needs.

Highlights of the week includes talks, awareness activities, and the creation of the poster above, which was made by boys who are currently at our Siyakhula Rehabilitation Centre.

Pictured above: Tristan Kaatze (Trustee of Sibaya Community Trust), Mandy Goble (Director of DCYCC) and Grant Fincham (Treasurer of DCYCC) officially opening Saunders House. Inset: Members of Glenwood Rotary Club with the donated Jojo tanks.

Friday 31 May 2019 was a joyous day at DCYCC. Saunders House was officially re-opened after extensive renovations, much to the children’s excitement! The renovations have ensured that several of the safety requirements in terms of the Norms and Standards for Child and Youth Care Centres have been met.

At a time when many children in our country continue to suffer from the consequences of poverty and social ills within family structures, the need for centres such as ours remains crucial. Keeping our doors open is only made possible through the generous support of the community. We are extremely grateful to the substantial investment made by the Sibaya Community Trust, which has breathed new life into Saunders House, enabling us to meet the needs of hundreds of children for many years to come. We thank Sibaya Community Trust chairperson, Mr Vivian Reddy, and the trustees for having committed to undertaking this project.

Long-standing donor, Pro Print, is also acknowledged for providing funding for the installation of an electronic fire alarm and detection system, ensuring compliance with the National Buildings Regulations and Buildings Standards Act. The Glenwood Rotarians are also acknowledged for the donation of two Jojo tanks and the cost of installing them.

Having a newly renovated house, meant that we needed to equip it with all the necessary appliances and furniture to make it a real ‘home’ for our children. We would like to acknowledge a special and dear friend, Mrs. Yvette Roberts, for her wonderful contribution, which helped us purchase all the basic appliances needed.

Although operational, the home is still in need of further furniture and equipment. Should you wish to contribute towards this need, please contact us on tel. 031 201 1301 or email info@dch.org.za

On International Childen’s Day – Saturday 1 June – you’re invited to get active and join us for a Zumba Fitness party.

Venue
Durban Child & Youth Care Centre Hall
222 Lena Ahrens Road, Glenwood

Time
9 am til 11 am

Cost
R60 per person or R100 per couple

Dress
Playful (rainbow colours)

Onsite registration from 8-9 am. Please be sure to bring water, sweat towels and cash with you. Donations in the form of cash or non-perishable food items much appreciated.

Secure your spot by making your payment now into our bank account:

Bank: Standard Bank
Branch: Gale Place
Branch Number: 04-25-26
Account Number: 05 122 038 5
Account Type: Current Cheque
Account Name: Durban Child and Youth Care Centre
Reference: Name + Zumba

Please email proof of payment to nicolette@dch.org.za

All proceeds go to the Durban Child & Youth Care Centre. See you there!

Six of our children won tickets to Monster Jam, in a colouring and drawing competition sponsored by National Sand and Stone.

The lucky young winners received VIP tickets to the event, which took place at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday 20 April. The stadium was turned into custom designed track where six of the world’s most famous Monster Jam trucks, including Grave Digger and Max D raced each other and performed freestyle tricks that left the kids on the edge of their seats.

Before the main event, the children had the chance to meet the Monster Jam superstars, take photos with them and the trucks, and get their autographs. What a wonderful afternoon’s entertainment – thank you again to National Sand and Stone for making our kids’ weekend.

Thanks to a new Skills Development Programme launched by DCYCC, Growth Spurt, young people will have the opportunity to explore their creative side.

The Programme will be facilitated by an experienced multi-talented artist, Marian Immerman. A speech and drama graduate, Marian is also experienced in public relations, clothing design/buying and has a background in teaching. She has been a volunteer at our organisation since 2014 and had for years prior to this been directly involved in initiating and driving a range of community upliftment projects.

The main purpose of Growth Spurt is to provide young people with the opportunity to create arts and crafts while learning key life skills to address the social, financial, emotional and personal complexities within their daily lives.

There will be a strong focus on recycling – upcycling and upliftment going hand in hand! Special thanks to Marian for making this project a reality. Thank you also to Marty from MProjects for kindly donating the container needed to facilitate these workshops.

Special thanks to all our friends and supporters who flocked to our special fundraising show at the Barnyard Theatre on 20 March.

Big Top Rock was nothing short of spectacular – a wonderful musical circus show which entertained young and old alike – and we’re so glad that we got to share it with you.

This is the first time our organisation has held a fundraising initiative of this nature, with the aim to raise funds for our Nutritional Meals Programme. We are pleased to say that it was a huge success. We exceeded our ticket sales and managed to raise a total of R5 400 towards the programme, which provides nearly 9 000 meals for children and youth every month!

Thanks for helping to make a difference.

Break up day also means we get to see school reports and see the progress our children have made.

We are so pleased to share with friends and supporters that our children have all done amazingly well, according to the school reports we’ve received so far.

Everyone at DCYCC is super proud!