Young patients at Tygerberg Children’s Hospital to benefit from book donation

Children at the Tygerberg Children's Hospital School get stuck into their new books.

Tygerberg Children's Hospital patient enjoying a new book donated by Santam staff.

The Tygerberg Hospital school library recently received R6 500 worth of books, following donations by a local insurer’s staff members.

Santam’s Corporate Social Investment (CSI) department recently joined forces with leading publishing distributor, Topline Book Distributors, to host a book sale at the company’s head office in Bellville. Santam committed to donate 10% of all sales towards a worthy charity, the beneficiary was the Tygerberg Children’s Hospital School.

The Tygerberg Hospital School is open to all child patients from grade R to matric, regardless of the duration of their stay. “We had only recently finished renovating our school library, so the donation really came at the right time”, said Susan Potgieter, principal at the school. “We appreciate the Santam donation and know that it will make a huge difference in the children’s lives,” she said.

CSI manager, Tersia Mdunge said “Santam’s staff members were delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to this initiative in their personal capacity. Books are a wonderful way of taking one’s mind off the pressures of day to day life. Some of these children are dealing with very serious illnesses and providing them with a happy distraction while in the hospital’s care brings us much joy.”

“We acknowledge the importance of nurturing young people and therefore strategically invest in areas that help them realise their full potential. We hope the books will provide the children with many hours of enjoyment while enhancing their vocabulary and expanding their general knowledge. Most of all, we hope these books will make the childrens’ hospital stay just a little easier,” said Mdunge.