Small efforts can make a big difference. That’s the message from the Smile Foundation, which is asking South Africans to donate R50 to change children’s lives in Smile Foundation Win a KIA Picanto Car raffle Small efforts can make a big difference.
That’s the message from the Smile Foundation, which is asking South Africans to make a small donation towards the Foundation’s Win a Car fundraiser in order to help it make a big difference in the lives of the country’s children in need.
“The Foundation was founded at the request of Mr Nelson Mandela - an honourable man who believed in the power of community, especially community coming together to help others. That is the idea behind this fundraiser; it is true Ubuntu in action.
"As South Africans, an act of responsible kindness will certainly change the outcome of the lives of children living with facial abnormalities. We come together as the Rainbow Nation being bonded by this act of kindness.
"Your fifty rand changes not just one life but the lives of families and future generations to come. It shows that we South Africans care” explains Marc Lubner, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at the Smile Foundation.
The Foundation is dedicated to providing funding and support for children who need facial reconstructive surgery. Smile collaborates with Academic Hospitals nationally to facilitate these life-changing surgeries for children as young as a few months to young adulthood, helping them and their families on what is sometimes a very difficult journey.
This latest fundraiser will be used specifically to assist the Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town with its paediatric surgical backlog. The hospital services a massive catchment area, from the desert in the north to the sea in the south, with some families travelling for days just to bring their children to the hospital for the surgery they so desperately need.
The Smile Foundation assists by covering both the theatre slate as well as logistical costs in getting the children and their guardians to the hospital for their operations.
Without this vital support, these children would have to wait for their surgeries, often missing the window for timeous surgical intervention, as their cases get delayed to make room for emergency procedures.
“The extra theatre list sponsored by the Smile Foundation plays an integral part in the treatment of cleft lip and palate patients and other children with facial anomalies at Tygerberg Hospital, providing a safe space for the timeous correction and allowing those children to grow up without the stigma associated, giving them a better start in life,” says Alex Zuhlke, Acting Head of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Tygerberg Hospital
For the fundraiser, South Africans are being asked to simply purchase a raffle ticket for R50, which puts them in line to win a 2019 KIA Picanto 1.0 worth R155 000, or a Family of Five collection of Glenlivet Whisky, or a Kindle Oasis.
“KIA Motors has a longstanding association with Smile Foundation and it’s a privilege for us to donate a KIA Picanto as the main prize for the raffle,” says David Sieff, Marketing Director, KIA Motors South Africa, “It is a token of our ongoing support of the incredible work the organisation does and is but one way in which we believe we can assist in making the joy visible through the smiles of our nation’s children.”
Tickets can be purchased
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