Santa Shoebox Project 2011

This project is held annually and is sponsored by various by people. Names of the children are put in a big box and each person draws a name. They then take the name, age and gender of the child and goes out to buy him/her little goodies and put it in a shoebox that has been decorated with pretty paper. This year our sponsors were, the lovely couple from Pizzaguys Pizzeria in Greenacres, Newton Park, Guy. Kim, the co-ordinator of the Santa Shoebox Project and various other people.

One of our toddlers, very happy with her present and the limelight!

 Not knowing his present is on his lap, he continues to sleep and not be bothered with the world

They couldn't wait to open their boxes.

All I want for Christmas is sweeties :)

Fascination was poured into her new clothes and doll

This little girl was so protective over her box, no one was allowed to touch it and you would get a scolding if you dare try. ;)

Sheer joy was on these children's faces after opening their boxes and examining their treasures carefully.

Thank you all who made this possible. May God bless you and your families.

Pops Foundation Christmas Party

Sunday 04 December 2011 - Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth

Our children had a blast at the stadium at the Christmas Party.

The little ones sat on the grass waiting for the party to start

Painted faces with big smiles because of the day they were given

Vistarus wedding

Sat 03 December 2011 - Natasha Swanepoel and Andries du Preez got maried in our centre. The day was filled with laughter, love and of course nerves!

The beautiful blushing bride Natasha du Preez (nee Swanepoel)

The groom (to the right) and his best man

The bridal party standing at the alter in Vistarus Church

Exchanging wedding rings

Walking down the isle after the seremony. Happiness spread in the room.

We, at Vistarus, want to bless the newly-weds with years of joy and love. May God bless your marraige and give you many years of happiness.

Celebrating New Life

On Saturday 26 November 2011 at12:15 Felecia Magalies, one of our residents on the program, went into labour. She was rushed to the hospital and a few hours later a beautiful little girl was born, she was given the name Sumaylin.

Born with a full head of hair, weighing 3.5 kg. Beautiful and healthy.

a new smile for a lovely woman

Serena Els is one of our residents on the program. She came to Vistarus in January 2010 with her two children looking for somewhere to live and start over. She has grown a lot in her time at Vistarus and made her dreams a reality. This included getting dentures to hide the missing teeth which made her a little self-conscious.

Today, Serena is walking around with a big smile on her face. She has a new found confidence and spring in her step.
Thank you to Dr van Wyk who made her pretty smile turn into a gorgeous grin.

Christmas Toy Run, 26 November 2011

This weekend our children were spoilt with gifts sponsored by the annual Toy Run organised by a group a bikers.

Excitement was all around as they waited for Father Christmas to give out the presents.

This boy was so excited he had to peer over everyone to see the man with the presents first. Sheer happiness spreading across the little one's face.

All the children were so happy about their presents.

After receiving the gifts inside a tent set-up for the occasion, they all went outside to admire their new found treasures.

We want to thank all of the people who made this day possible. Thank you for spreading the festive spirit and giving back to the community. Our children really appreciate all of those who spent the day with them.

Courses presented by Media Works

Men and women on our program and our leaders attended courses. There were about 40 of our people who attended these courses. Only 20 are shown in the photo above. The one course was Business Practice and the other one was Safety in the Workplace. These courses were sponsored by the government and presented by Media Works. The main thing about these courses was to help them obtain a certificate that can help them in the future if they want to find a job outside of Vistarus but do not have the right qualifications for that job. Both courses were a week long. This was given to our people to enhance their skills in the work area as well as gaining more knowledge about the business world. This would also help to re-establish them into society again and build a better future.

PE Stadium Clean-up

On Saturday 22 October 2011 Discovery and Algoa Fm organised an event they called ‘big walk’ in order to help raise funds for CANSA and the Igazi Foundation. Vistarus was asked to clean the Port Elizabeth stadium for our recycling project. It went well, we collected hundreds of bottles and plastic bags. Although this was just a trial run for another big event coming up, things looked positive for the future of the Vistarus Recycling Project.

Our team of helpers in their Vistarus outfits were happy to be there and help.

While walking around looking to see what is happening at the event, we were approached by a team of runners who brought bananas and naartjies to the event. He was generous enough to give away the rest of the fruit that was left behind.

 Our custom made jackets for the recycling project.

Orange Donation

09.09.2011

Oranges were donated to various organisations and Vistarus offered to pick up the oranges and distribute them to the other charities.

About 6 tons of oranges were sorted into big blue bins and people came to pick the bins up for their charities.

 

Group of helpers having fun being sticky of orange juice

They had a blast squeezing juice over others and laughing about it.

 Sorting out some of the oranges for the charities.

67 Minutes - Engen

 Mr Mandela has his birthday on 18 July when he turned 93.  The 67 minute project is to honour him for the years he dedicated to bring about change in South Africa. On Friday Engen Port Elizabeth chose the Mission as the place to do their 67 minutes for Nelson Mandela. The children was thoroughly spoiled.

 Lots of fruit and cake to celebrate Madiba's birthday.

Clowns entertained our little ones.

Faces were painted.

Enjoying all the attention.

Mr PE 2011 with one of our babies.

Happy painted faces.

The DJ's  from Bay FM supplied the music.

The lady from Engen that organised it all.

Mr PE with some adoring fans;-)

Lots of fun on the jumping castle.

Another cutie.

Giving these children a day of fun warms my heart.

On top of the wall of the jumping castle.

Even our social worker was pulled into the fun.