It’s with enormous gratitude that we reflect on an incredible evening last week. This is our second fundraising dinner held at the spectacular Nasdak in Cape Town City Bowl to raise funds for the early detection of ADHD and other mental health barriers to education in underprivileged communities.

 

 

 

 

 

During the auction the 20 paintings generously donated by some of South Africa’s most talented artists, raised a total amount of R294 600! The top lot, a painting by Solly Smook entitled “La Monja” went under the hammer for an impressive R31 000. The giving was generous from the 140 guests attending and to prove the point we even had a cable tie sold for R300!

 

F.l.t.r.: David Griessel, Roelof Rossouw, Kevin Hector, Alvena van der Vyver, Renata Schoeman & Nic de Beer

We are left speechless by the generosity and support we have received since launching Goldilocks and The Bear Foundation two years ago. We started the foundation with a big vision in 2017 and since have managed to bring mental health services to 21781 children in the Western Cape!

This has only been possible by the big-heartedness of people from across South Africa. The spirit of giving-back, changing lives and giving children a fair chance in life, is testament to the overwhelming money raised at the auction. With this money we can expand our reach and grow the progress we have achieved so far.

ADHD affects 1 in 20 children in South Africa and many are left untreated. Half of these children struggle with poor self-esteem, learning difficulties, anxiety, depression, behavioural problems and substance abuse disorders. Our aim is to at school and community level, raise the awareness and share knowledge about ADHD, screen children and help them on the road to finding the best treatment. We train community leaders and teachers to assist us in early detection, upskill pro bono volunteers and healthcare professionals, and work closely with the Departments of Education, Health and Social Development,  and other NGOs.

In just two short years we managed to:

    • Visit 26 schools
    • Brought mental health services to 21781 children
    • Screened 1070 children
    • Identified 434 children with ADHD
    • Diagnosed 90 children with depression or anxiety
    • Diagnosed 19 children with medical conditions
    • Identified 52 children with learning or intellectual disabilities

In addition, we are enormously proud to have opened up a screening centre at Tygerberg Hospital in September this year! We have also launched in Gauteng during October 2019, and aim to be operational early 2020. We have also published a book “All these things are important to me”, but more on this in a next blog.

But we can’t do this without funding. We have a number of projects all geared towards raising enough to expand our reach ranging from Back-a-Buddy to athletes contributing through sponsorship received, Corporate Social Investment commitments and our annual auction.

F.l.t.r.: Nic de Beer, Jackie Tau, Renata Schoeman, Clinton van Zitters & Bruce Whitfield

 

Thank you to every volunteer, sponsor, contributor and supporter of this worthy cause.

Together we can fast track the lives of children destined for greatness!

 

Prof Renata Schoeman & Nic de Beer

Co-founders of the Goldilocks & the Bear Foundation