Support a Baby, Build a Family!

To Our Wonderful Supporters,

We can say in, no uncertain terms, that these past months have been some of the most trying times in the history of TLC. We have been pushing ourselves harder than ever to focus on what our organisation needs to continue providing the much needed support to the little heroes that call TLC home. It has been a difficult road, but through the struggle we have seen amazing acts of kindness and generosity that have helped us along to a point where we see the light of our future glimmering before us again.

We are immensely humbled and grateful to each person who had walked this journey with us in person or in spirit. All the individual acts of support, messages, prayers, donations and helping hands of those rooting for us were a powerful gift in carrying us through. While we still struggle with a financial shortfall every month we are pleased so say we can revise our six month timeline and will be going forward to continue growing our financial sustainablity to continue serving the vulnerable little lives of our communities for as long as we are needed.

Some updates -

Over the last couple of months we have placed 2 of our older children into homes. It is always such a struggle to readjust as a family - especially for their little peers, we know that families are the best place for a child, but it's not always easy to explain this difficult reality to little hearts and minds. <3 This is a big reason why we try so hard to make each child's placement into a forever family as rapid and responsible as possible. Unfortunately the legal and bureaucratic system we function in is not as consciensious.

We have taken in 5 newborns in the last 3 months. Our hearts are filled with the joys and heartache that we experience in the beautiful yet tragic moments of these new little lives joining our family.

To ensure that we continue to be the safe, loving intemediary space that these little lives so desperately need, over the coming months our board and management team, along with a specially appointed professional consultant, we will be strategising and setting in motion some big plans to strengthen TLC going into the future. We hope to have some exciting updates for you in our next report!

Again, we are so incredibly grateful to you for walking this journey along side us!

With Hope and Gratitude,
Faith Abrahams

Welcome to All our new supporters!
And to our pre-exsisting supporters thank you for sticking with us through this difficult time!
We cannot thank you enough. <3 

Since our last heartbreaking announcement in December, we are so grateful to be able to tell you that there is hope on the horizon for TLC! After gratefully receiving much assistance in servicing our debt as well as many new pledges of support through our monthly giving Adopt-A-Cot campaign we have now officially moved the benchmark for re-evaluating the threat of TLC's closure to the end of 2019! While we are not fully in the clear we are hopeful that with the help of our amazing supporters we will be able to secure the sustainable funding needed to keep us going for as long as there are babies that need our services. <3

We often get asked why it costs TLC so much to care for a baby every month. This is our answer:

While this figure may seem exorbitant for one child, especially in comparison to a regular family environment, we have many costs associated with providing 24 hour, quality care for each child in our home which we have averaged out between the children to make up this figure. To give you some insight I will elaborate on the detail of these costs below =) 

Please bear in mind these costs were significantly lower even just a few years ago. With the ever increasing cost of living in SA many of the following costs have dramatically increased over the past few years: 24 hour care (caregivers and teachers), an onsite social worker, support staff to ensure our facility runs smoothly (cleaning, cooking, grounds and maintenance), logistical expenses (drivers, vehicle services and maintenance, fuel for school runs, grocery runs, taking children to court, taking children for their vaccinations or therapy, occasional outings, collecting donations, etc.), consumable expenses (formula, nappies, food, juice, wetwipes, toiletries, cleaning products, household products, etc), medical expenses (medication, syringes, plasters, teething gels, nebulizers, apnoea mats, etc.) , therapy expenses (occupational, physio, speech, etc.), schooling equipment and fees (most of our children over 2years are schooled onsite, however we do have a few children in grade R and primary school which include special needs and remedial schools, pre-school), refuse collection, laundry maintenance (because of the high volume of laundry we do our machines need regular maintenance and repair), electricity bills, security bills, management and administrational costs. 

I hope this gives you a clearer understanding. Also, please know we are audited by the DSD regularly and had an extensive private audit done last year. We are committed to transparency and handling our funds responsibly. 

On an more behind the scenes note, on the 9th of February, we had our AGM at which we had a few fresh new faces join our board of trustees. We acknowledge there is a lot of growth and change on our horizon and we need some expert help! With their guidance we are very excited to see how we are able to serve the vulnerable babies of our community better, providing we are granted the grace to continue. We know with this strong complement of professionals our leadership is in a strong position to help us navigate whatever this year brings our way.  

Once again, from the entire TLC Team (all the babies and children included), we Thank You sincerely for your love and dedication in supporting our home. We really could not provide the loving care to these little ones without your support. You make all the difference in ensuring we can be the safe space these little ones can thrive in while we look for their forever families. <3 

We appreciate you more than we can ever express!

As always if there are any questions, comments or suggestions please don't hesitate to get in touch.

With Sincere Gratitude and
Kind Regards,
Faith Abrahams
Communications Manager.

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