Rand Aid celebrates Madiba magic

702's John Robbie was at Thembalami Care Centre in Lombardy East early on Monday morning, spelling out for his listeners the wonderful work done there to look after indigent and frail senior citizens. He told his audience that the feeling of love at Thembalami was tangible, and thanks to his heartfelt requests for the public to help the care centre, over R100 000 was raised. Woolworths staff arrived unexpectedly to do their 67 minutes. They found Thembalami such 'an eye opener that they hope do regular community work at Rand Aid. Southern Sun OR Tambo hosted a high tea for residents of Rand Aid's Ron Smith Care Centre and treated them to delicious treats and snacks.

Thembalami has also been pledged a multitude of goods in kind like curtains, computers and nebulizers by caring community members and companies such as the Johannesburg Emergency Services, in conjunction with Disaster Management who also visited Thembalami and donated three 9kg fire extinguishers, 180 cooler bags that can be used when residents go on outings, and seven Halogen torches.

Representatives from Disaster Management who would also provide free training to residents and staff in respect of fire drills and evacuation procedures. They commenced this on Monday by doing a mock evacuation with the residents as part of their 67 minutes.

Another of the association's retirement villages, Elphin Lodge, hosted a knit-a-thon for the Ron Smith Care Centre. Everyone was welcome to join in the fun and knitters from Ron Smith, Elphin Lodge and Tarentaal all took part by knitting squares which would be sewn into blankets and donated to the less privileged Thembalami residents. The over 50 people present enjoyed a slideshow on Madiba which featured some of his most famous quotes. Squares were knitted for 67 minutes, with knitters pledging to carry on knitting at home.