UNSUNG HEROES When lockdown was announced, many of our teachers and staff members knew that there would be families right on our school’s doorstep, and further afield, who would need support. Breadwinners were losing their jobs and families were left helpless without food and basic provisions. A number of our teachers and staff went above and beyond to help neighbours in need. Here are two of those remarkable stories. Mr Randall Daniels, the Engineering Graphics and Design (EGD) and Technology teacher at our High School has been actively involved in supporting the nearby Freedom Park informal settlement in Ottery since joining Christel House in 2006. He taught students to give back, and sharpen their culinary skills at the same time, by asking them to bring a vegetable to class. Together, the class prepared nourishing soup and distributed it in the community on a weekly basis. During lockdown, Mr Randall provided meals three times a week for 100 families in both Freedom Park and Jim se Bos, another community in the area. With support from Christel House, Mr Randall’s project received a generous donation from a benevolent donor (who preferred to remain anonymous). The funding enabled him to provide most Freedom Park families with bulk food supplies and emergency relief over several of the darkest months of the pandemic.
Ms Wendy Woolf, a Grade 7 teacher at Christel House, has been involved with the Freedom Park community for the past 21 years. With funds donated from friends and family at the start of lockdown, Ms Wendy helped to start Operation Freedom Park, which provided the community with three meals per week that included a sandwhich, soup and bread or a cooked meal. A team of local ladies were mobilised to prepare the food each week and it was distributed to those in need. On Christmas morning, Ms Wendy and her family and friends also treated 150 Freedom Park children to party packs, and distributed baby and teenage packs to parents.
CHRISTEL HOUSE SA 2020 ANNUAL REPORT | 23
