Thank you to those who give from your own pockets!
One of our problems with funding is that it is so hard to exactly predict what a centres needs will be. Often the needs become apparent in time.
So we get everything going for the children... Then we see how the ECD prac’s have to struggle to wash the dishes at a stone sink on the ground and then we must try to find a better way for them. Because the easier we make their lives the more they can give to the children. And we need to make the situation more hygienic. So I need now to find the money for a table, large basins and washing up racks...
Then there is maintenance. Hooks come out of towel racks, floors tiles need re-gluing, jungle gyms need to be repaired and so much more...
Then with building we find that something small ‘else’ was not thought about and off we go to get it...anyone who has ever had anything to do with builders will know this.
Or the rains come after winter and suddenly the leaks in the roof become a pressing problem...
Then we always have to decide what to ask funders for – how to ask the right amount – we don’t want to scare them off but also we need to know what they can give so we can be realistic about what we want. (We always want a bit more of course...but we try to prioritise and also dovetail what a funder or donator of their time can do). It is not quite as simple as one might suppose!
So we do need money that is not ‘allocated’ but money that can be used to keep things going without breaking our personal banks – it is hard to watch a playroom being flooded without taking out one’s own purse...rather too many times in the end I find.
So this is why money without ‘strings’ that we get from kind people really does help us. It may not be that your money is used for glamorous things but without it we can’t achieve what we need to and children’s hygiene, safety and comfort depend on us.
So thank you (A HUGE one) to those who give your own money so generously from your very own pockets.