Founded in 1977, SRCS on the NWU’s campus in Potchefstroom is one of the biggest registered student welfare organisations in the world. It is run by students who aspire to serve the university’s surrounding community and those in need of assistance.

SRCS, in partnership with Rag, specifically focuses on the communities of Ikageng and Promosa outside Potchefstroom, and this is reflected in the distribution of funds.

How schools benefit

Clean, private bathrooms are one of the most pressing needs of pre-primary schools, some of which still use buckets as toilets. Two schools, Agape and Thuto Boswa, received R10 000 and R7 000 respectively to upgrade their bathroom facilities.

Many schools also urgently need their play areas upgraded.

With this in mind, the SRCS donated R49 500 to five schools.

These schools are Tshepanang (R10 000), Lesedi La Thuto (R10 000), Dan Thloome (R16 000), Reagola (R3 500) and PNBC pre-school (R10 000).

Tshupane Primary School received R40 000 for the construction of a kitchen that will provide food for 1 200 children every day. A payment of R50 000 was made to Jane Letsapa Intermediate School for the building of a kitchen and a sickbay. This school is located about 35 km from Potchefstroom, in the Essie district.

Payments of R5 000 and R4 076 for buying sports equipment were made to President Pretorius and Promosa primary schools respectively, while the Bafenyi Trust received R55 000 to build a classroom for the training of early childhood development teachers.

Money was also allocated for the renovation of infrastructure: Witrand Hospital received R10 000, the Promosa 1 project R3 200 and Droomhuis R10 000.

Making a difference

Other SRCS beneficiaries include Child Welfare (R20 000), Families South Africa (FAMSA, R20 000), Free State Care in Action: Vredefort (R10 000) and Nappy Run South Africa (R5 000).

The iDUC project, which focuses on job creation, community upliftment and support for rape victims, received R35 000.This project identifies unemployed women in less fortunate communities and pays them to make little stuffed animals and hooded garments for sale.

Donations of R15 000 and R45 000 were made to the Pedal for Poverty and Musikhane projects respectively. A sum of R1 481 000 was paid to needy NWU students to help with registration, outstanding debt and bursaries.

These are only some of a multitude of projects and initiatives to which SRCS contributed. In addition there are numerous collecting activities for food, clothes and much, much more throughout the year.