There were smiles all around in Lavender Hill on Wednesday when these children were gifted shoes and stationery by the Cape Flats favourite surrogate dad, John Nicholson.
John became a national hero when the Daily Voice reported two years ago that he had converted his garage into a library to get his community’s children to read.
With just hours before the new school year started on Wednesday, John’s organisation Omegaview, in Hillview, came to the rescue of 65 kids.
EXCITED: Nicole Radloff with stationary
With the aid of Saab Grintec Defence in Pretoria, he donated 60 pairs of school shoes and 65 sets of stationary to the needy children.
John, 50, and his wife Gail have been running Omegaview for the past 14 years, encouraging children to read, and providing a safe haven for them to do their homework and play games.
John says many of the children’s parents could not afford stationery or school shoes for them.
“The beautiful thing about it is that I gave some children stationery and they were honest, saying their parents already bought, and then asked that I give it to another child in need,” says John.
GRATEFUL: Twins Reece and Jordaan Maart
“It was an amazing feeling to put smiles on the faces of these children after we received donations from Saab Grintec Defence in Pretoria.
“Eight of these 65 children are starting school for the first time this year.”
John says each child received a set of books and a bag filled with stationery - a pen, pencil, glue, a sharpener and a flip file.
“We had a case where a boy’s father was unemployed and he only received work during the festive season and he thought he would have money in his pocket for stationery, but [didn’t. But we were there to help that family.”
GIVER: John Nicholson, 50
In December, John and his team also gave over 200 Christmas presents to children in his community.
John was nominated for South African Hero for February 2018, an initiative by e.tv which honours hard-working people in their communities.
The upholsterer also made headlines as far as London and Sweden in March 2016 when the Daily Voice team first reported on his library.
After John’s story went viral on social media, he received thousands of books as donations.
The library currently has over 5 000 books.