PERSONNEL
Friends Day Centre is administered by a Management Committee which makes policy decisions and oversees the smooth running of the Centre. Our Principal, Mrs. Maria von Meyer, comes from a nursing background, and has 29 years experience in the Centre. The needs of our student body of 124 are catered for by a staff compliment of 46, comprising of edu-carers, assistant edu-carers, domestic assistants, drivers, office staff, physiotherapists, and several people in sheltered employment. The ratio of staff to learner is necessarily high given the intensity of the work. Everyone who works at Friends Day Centre is committed to providing the best service to our students and their families with love and integrity.

BACKGROUND
National government has never provided education or training for people with severe intellectual and physical disabilities, with an IQ estimated between 0-30. Responsibility for the education and training of these children and adults has been assumed by the NGO/NPO’s such as Friends Day Centre.

By undertaking this education and training we are offering relief, support and help to families. For the child it means an appropriate education and daily routine out of the house, thus bringing a level of normality to families by allowing parents a chance to work or relax, secure in the knowledge that their child is being educated according to his/her needs.

Neither salaries nor transport are paid by any national or provincial departments. We are dependent on parents, service organisations, churches, sponsors and our own fundraising events to provide money for running costs and essential expenditure e.g. replacement of buses, wheelchairs, custom built equipment and standing frames.

FUTURE
Insufficient funds to allow for capital expenditure hamper our plans to build a respite/hostel, which is the next step forward in our growth and development programme.The need for our services will increase throughout the community as the infant mortality rate falls, and modern medicine pushes back the barriers to survival. We also welcome volunteers to assist in our classrooms and with our fundraising events. Please contact us if you are available.

OUR IMPACT ON COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC AWARENESS

The impact made by the work done at Friends Day Centre is difficult to quantify, as the results are ongoing. The community is served because the education and training of an intellectually disabled child results in a better family life, and a more socially acceptable child, hence children are no longer isolated or ‘hidden’ in their homes or institutions.

Public awareness is vitally important as society must accept these children and their families as valued members of the community, without being ostracized in any way.

At FDC pupils experience travel, social interaction and an understanding of the environment where they can grow and improve at their own pace. Being happier children, less extreme behavioural problems are exhibited. The behavioural problems are destructive in family life, often socially alienating  and isolating families, putting great stress on marriages, which often leads to divorce, battering or abandonment of both the affected child and his siblings.

SUSTAINABILITY

Friends Day Centre is very well established, but it is getting more and more difficult to sustain our current level of service.

We are fortunate to receive regular funding from some of our donors, such as the Dept. of mental Health, Community Chest, D.G. Murray, Syringa Trust and various other B.O.E. Trust funds, and every few years have received funding from the National Lottery.

We have an active fundraising campaign where targets are set and progress is constantly evaluated. Fundraising activities include special events, private and corporate donors, ongoing projects such as recycling, Spare Change collection tins, My School Card, second-hand clothing sales, a Valentine function, Easter Parcels, Eat ‘n Treat, Variety Shows, Golf Days and the Children’s Charity Christmas Pudding Mix.

1998 saw the successful implementation of the first ever Spare Change Campaign. The campaign ran in 30 schools and in 10 major shopping centres. The success of that year’s campaign ensured that this became an annual event in our fundraising calendar. However, as many other charities have caught on to this campaign, this is now slowing down.

Over the past few years we have increased our media coverage, giving interviews on the radio and putting advertisments in local newspapers as well as on Cape TV, a newly established television channel.

Our fundraiser needs to continually come up with new ideas, and we regularly write proposals for new funders and approach potential overseas & national sponsors.

NEW HOPE AND VISION

Friends Day Centre has a vision to create a sustainable community, within which, people with severe intellectual & physical disabilities will benefit from lifelong care, developmental training and education, to ensure that they achieve their maximum potential.

We have made application for additional facilities and land on which to build a respite centre, but insufficient funds hamper this next step forward in our growth and development programme. We will continue to explore this avenue, however, as we believe it is vital that our parents receive mental, physical & psychological support. In the future we hope to provide a safe place for them to leave their child overnight, or for a more extended stay whilst they travel overseas, or on business.

We would also like to add several classrooms as we need extra room. There is a great demand for Centres such as Friends Day Centre, and we would like to extend our services to all who need them.

OUR NEED

National Government does not provide education or training for children and adults with physical disabilities as well as severe or profound intellectual disabilities (IQ under 30). This will hopefully change soon as the Governments have realized they have a responsibility in this area, after the Mental Health Forum won a court case at the Supreme Court in November 2010 in this regard. Although we do not receive a subsidy from the Education Department nor from the Dept. of Social Services, we do receive a subsidy from the Dept. of Mental Health for a maximum of 80 of our younger learners (are under 18 years of age). Several of our older learners, whom have been with us since they were very young, are now Wards of the State and unable to contribute to their school fees at all. We find it reprehensible that we might have to ask these learners to leave our Centre. It costs approximately R1900.00 pm to provide specialised care for each learner, approximately half of this comes from school fees, and therefore the other half must come from the subsidies, donors and fundraising.

The disabilities of our learners force a high learner / edu-carer ratio. The bulk of our expenditure covers staff salaries, even though these salaries are very low.

We therefore ask you to consider a monthly contribution towards our centre or the sponsorship of a learner, so that we may continue to provide this very vital community service for some very special children.