IT company donation benefits nursery school tots

Sixty previously disadvantaged toddlers are now enjoying vastly improved school facilities following a generous donation from a leading global IT company.

The Gallo Manor nursery school caters mainly for children whose parents can ill afford school fees, as well as AIDS orphans from nearby havens.

When staff from software and services giant, Compuware Corporation SA, saw the run-down state of the nursery school, they decided to take action. It was not long before the global corporation pledged R75 000 to buy much needed items and cover the costs of a total revamp.

Compuware was already involved with Just One Child, the charity that owns the nursery school as well as two havens for orphans plus a shelter for abused mothers and their children.

“When we saw the nursery school, we felt it would be a perfect opportunity to help,” says Melindie Coetzee, HR manager of Compuware SA. “We like to focus our CSI effort where it is most needed and were delighted to be able to contribute to a project that provided education to young children.”

“The nursery school has been utterly transformed,” says Cheryl Brooke, who with her husband, Clifford, started Just One Child. “When we bought the school it was in very poor condition.”

Compuware organised for builders to renovate the children's toilets and re-do the paving around the school building, the ceramic floor tiling throughout the nursery school and the walkway roof. A new front gate was also installed, and a roof built over the sandpit.

The company also donated a television, fridge, copier, tables and chairs, plates, balls and CD players. It also replaced the old two-plate cooker, on which staff previously relied to cook for between 60 and 70 children a day, with a new stove.