Ford gives big Christmas Gift

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Ford Goes Further This Festive Season FMCSA donates Ford Ranger to Viva Foundation enabling the NGO to continue delivering life-changing community upliftment projects FMCSA celebrates festive season with MEDICOS Special School and the SOS Children’s Village house 6 PRETORIA, South Africa, 11 December 2012 – Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) recently donated a…

  • Ford Goes Further This Festive Season
  • FMCSA donates Ford Ranger to Viva Foundation enabling the NGO to continue delivering life-changing community upliftment projects
  • FMCSA celebrates festive season with MEDICOS Special School and the SOS Children’s Village house 6

Ford Christmas Gift

PRETORIA, South Africa, 11 December 2012 – Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) recently donated a Ford Ranger to the Viva Foundation in support of their on-going work in the Mamelodi East community. Dean Stoneley, Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Service for Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) handed over the keys to a Ranger double cab.

“It is a blessing that will allow the Viva Foundation to go further as it strives to develop underprivileged communities,” said Chairman of the Viva Foundation, Leon Kriel on acceptance.

The Viva Foundation is a non-profit organisation that strives to transform informal settlements into stable and economically viable communities. The Viva Foundation established the Viva Village in Mamelodi East’s Alaska Informal Settlement, where it provides pre-school facilities; a special needs programme for children, literacy, art and after-school care programmes for children. It also runs a feeding scheme that provides more than 3500 meals to underprivileged families monthly.

Ford South Africa

 “We rely upon the goodness of people, the public, and private sector companies in order to provide the services upon which we founded the Viva Foundation. We were in dire need of a vehicle and are extremely grateful to Ford for coming to our aid with a Ranger,” added Kriel.

FMCSA has supported the Viva Foundation for the past two and half years as it directly impacts the Mamelodi community where many of FMCSA’s employees reside.

“The Ranger that FMCSA donated has been built by the very people that live in the community which the Viva Foundation is supporting. We hope this will allows them to go further as they continue to make a difference in the lives of those who need it most,” concluded Stoneley.

In addition to the Viva Foundation, FMCSA supports a number of other social upliftment projects in the greater Pretoria area. Among them are the MEDICOS Special School and the SOS Children’s Village house 6.

The MEDICOS school, situated in Soshanguve, north ofPretoria, is a special day school for mentally handicapped children. Most of the children come from the surrounding areas of Soshanguve, Mabopane and Garankuwa.

Many of the children who attend the school come from low income homes where their parents cannot afford school fees. This means that they have to rely on volunteers and the goodwill of others to keep the school going.

FMCSA also has a long standing association with the SOS Children’s Village in Mamelodi. The SOS Children’s Village is a private, charitable, social development organisation that aims to build families for orphaned and abandoned children. Nine children between the ages of three and 18 are cared for in small family-type homes, where they are raised like brothers and sisters. The head of the family is the SOS or house Mother. She provides the children with the affection and security they need for their sound development.

In celebration of the upcoming festive season FMCSA employees attended the MEDICOS school’s annual end of year celebration and later the same day hosted a party for the children of the SOS Children’s Village house 6 at a nearby horse riding school.

“It is a privilege to share in their joy,” said FMCSA President and CEO, Jeff Nemeth. “While these initiatives are a small gesture on our part it is a day the children relish. We are proud to be associated with exceptional work performed by the Viva Foundation, the MEDICOS School and the SOS Children’s Village, they provide an invaluable service to the communities that surround our Plant and we are thankful to them for their hard work and dedication.”


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