25/10/2019 - News

Clearwater International volunteers make ‘footprints’ across South Africa for charity

Footprints 1

A team of Clearwater International volunteers travelled to South Africa last week to support the Footprints Foundation in an effort to help local communities. This involved completing work on a new medical centre, located in the township of Lenasia, Johannesburg, which will provide thousands of people access to medical support that was not previously available.

During their visit, volunteers Richard Ellis, Natasha Eden, Sam Beard, Tarsonia Sanghera, Shanna Brown, Catherine Jones and Anthea Vidler, spent much of the duration of their trip preparing the centre for its opening by painting and furnishing the medical rooms. The six week project has involved converting a derelict building on an existing Footprints site, which is currently home to a school for young children. The centre is expected to serve thousands of families; both young and old.

In addition, the team distributed 100s of items of clothing donated by Clearwater staff and Morrisons, baked almost 400 cupcakes for the children at a local school, visited a nearby orphanage, provided hands-on help at the centre’s soup kitchen and travelled directly into local communities to distribute food to those with limited access to supplies.

In the lead up to the trip, volunteers across the business have been fundraising through a number of events including marathons, a 10 mile barefoot walk and the Coast to Coast cycle challenge.

The Footprints Foundation is a fantastic organisation, and to work on one of its key projects in South Africa enabled us to see the difference it makes to communities first-hand.

Richard Ellis, Director at Clearwater International and Project Lead, said:

“Having been a part of this project since the beginning and seeing it through till the end has been an experience I will keep with me for a lifetime. The Footprints Foundation is a fantastic organisation, and to work on one of its key projects in South Africa enabled us to see the difference it makes to communities first-hand. We would like to thank the foundation for the opportunity to work together for such a fantastic cause.”

Phil Burns, Clearwater International UK Managing Partner, said:

“Our volunteers have demonstrated hard work and determination towards this project, both in the lead up, and during their visit to Johannesburg. Our commitment to support initiatives both on an international and regional level is an area of our business we are very proud of. We look forward to seeing how this centre will help local residents.”

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