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KNYSNA NEWS AND VIDEO - An amount of R16 711 was raised at Alexander Boutique Suites during the Gin High Tea above the Sea charity fundraiser for Sinethemba Youth Development Centre recently.
Sinethemba youth development centre is an NGO dedicated to keeping children off the streets.
Locals kept pouring in to support the cause at the glamorous event which took place on Saturday 17 March.
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Local musicians kept their audience captivated with their live performances. First it was Lani Groves and her cello and later Suzi Bilyard and Jo followed also took to the stage.
The three then spontaneously played together and jokingly introduced themselves as "Girls on Gin", as guests were enjoying various craft gins and decadent snacks.
Sinethemba director Michael Smith said seeing locals in such large numbers attending, showed him that they are taking responsibility and ownership of the centre.
Watch a video below.
“This is very heartwarming and I just learnt that there is another event on Wednesday also to raise funds for our organisations. Seeing this level of unity is exciting and gives me so much hope that we’re going to come right and things are going to be better.”
Smith said this year marks the organisation’s 15th anniversary and that seeing people come together is a dream come true.
“I cannot thank you enough for being here today, this is to express my heartfelt gratitude. It’s been a very challenging 15 years but we always try our best. We have since grown our services, we’ve grown our skills and social services and last year alone we managed to get 193 children back to mainstream school – if we didn’t intervene they would’ve ended up on the streets.”
He said their primary funder, the Department of Social Development (DSD), doesn’t cover enough of their costs and that their number one priority for the past few years has been getting a vehicle – which they still don’t have.
“With your support we are confident we will be able to reach that dream,” he concluded.
Some of the decadent snacks for the guests.
Guests were spoilt to a lucky draw with amazing prizes ranging from weekend getaways, great outdoors goodies, wine, nail and beauty vouchers and many more.
There were three charity auctions to a stay in The Alexander Boutique's top suites, the Royal, Penthouse and Captain’s, before guests went on to enjoy the spectacular view and their drinks while mingling.
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