NEWS RELEASE                                                                                              22 October 2001 

CITY DONATES PROPERTY GRATUITY TO SEVEN CHARITIES

 The City of Cape Town has taken an unusual donor gratuity of R500 000 and used this to aid seven organisations active in community support projects in the city. 

This is the result of a structured sale of council land on the old Power Station site on the Foreshore to Investec Bank for the building of a new corporate headquarters and the inclusion in the sale contract of a R500 000 donation to be made by the buyer to the council for distribution to nominated charitable organisations. 

Following Council’s ongoing policy of providing funding support – where possible – to recognised local organisations involved directly with community health and safety and security issues, the decision was made to split the Investec donation in favour of organisations working specifically with the care of persons living with HIV/Aids or with the rehabilitation and upliftment of specifically street children, destitute persons and youth. 

At a recent ceremony, donation cheques where handed over to AIDS support group JOY FOR LIFE and to the Etafeni Playgroup Aids Orphans Project in Nyanga, as well as to the street children rehabilitation project Street Universe, The Lakeview Adolescent And Young Adult Special Day Care Centre, a life skills programme and awareness project for the Peninsula Association Of Youth Clubs, the well-known accommodation and training facility for the destitute The Ark, and Chrysalis Academy, a social crime and upliftment programme targeting ‘youth at risk’.

 “I have no doubt that these donations – ranging from R50 000 to R80 000 – will make a significant difference to the work these organisations do within our communities,” said Executive Committee Member for Economic Development, Tourism and Property Management, Councillor Morkel

 “I believe that it’s right that such gratuities that come from the sale of Council land surplus to our requirements, should be used to help those who need it most,” said Councillor Morkel.

 The donations support Council’s strategic objective of providing a caring city for all people, an opportunity city for all people and a safe city for all its people.

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