Cape Town - To keep its doors open and its services running, a local children’s hospice, Iris House, is appealing to the public to support its donation drive.
The hospice, which is based in Bellville is the only respite care centre in the province that caters for children and young adults who have special needs, is looking to raise R500 000 to help sustain itself for the remainder of 2021.
According to the founder and chief executive Sue van der Linde, the hospice, which has been in existence since 2011, had been doing quite well before the coronavirus pandemic.
Van der Linde said: “The most wholesome thing about us, is that we provide life-changing support for over 585 families across the province, as we are active in 46 communities.
“We support not only the children but the entire familial structure with various services specially designed to make their lives less burdensome. We do everything from assisting these families, from food donations, medical training, social support services, parent support and even foster parent training. It’s hard to think about what would become of the families and mostly the children if we were to shut down.”
Before the pandemic, the hospice sustained itself with funds from donors and sponsors as well as a government grant.
“With Covid, things are not looking good, but I didn’t want to sit until the last minute, we had to start fund-raising. We couldn’t go the physical route as we did before Covid-19, so we are active and pushing on social media, trying to direct traffic to our site where we have linked through all information about our services, who we are and how people can support us,” said Van der Linde.
For more information on how you can help, see: https://iris-house.org/save-iris-house-fundraiser/