Education South Africa Project #31870

Mission: Tuition! 2019

by TLC Ministries

Project Report | Jun 13, 2019
TLC Announcement - A Way Forward

By Faith Abrahams | Communications Manager

Jarvis Family and Board

Dear friends

It’s been 6 months since you all so passionately rallied to support us in the face of what seemed like the imminent threat to our beloved TLC. Thankfully and with your help, we were able to weather the storm and use this time to embark on a complex restructuring process, which we did with the help of a Change Management Consultant.

As most of our supporters know, TLC was started as a family run home in 1993. Over time our family grew and we evolved to serve over 900 children, and we have had the privilege of including over 1000 volunteers and permanent staff in our life’s work. Starting as a small, rebellious family, challenging an oppressive system which did not cater for work like ours, we are now able to function under the regulations of a non-profit organisation and a registered Child and Youth Care Centre (“CYCC”). All this while navigating an exceedingly colourful family life, with the Founding Jarvis family having grown from 5 children to almost 40!

As the years passed, the world changed in and around the Founding Family and TLC. It became clear that the best way to restructure was to clearly define the Founding family as its own entity, separate from the daily running of our CYCC. This has been a tricky process and the end of 2018, we thought it would be impossible to bring about the necessary stability without changing the heart or losing the impact of what we do. We have made significant progress in this regard but are by no means out of the woods yet.

In many ways we are still struggling to pay off our debt and to find the required funds to cover our monthly expenses. Thanks to the continued support of some very special TLC angels, we are still afloat. However, these shortfalls are ongoing as we, like many organisations, experience the effects of a declining donor base and limited government funding.

What remains unchanged over the years, is our passion to ensure that every child is equipped to reach their full potential. Today, as the young children you have lovingly watched grow over the years reach young adulthood, one of the main challenges TLC is now facing is the question of how to fulfil our promise to them. The promise of how to best provide the springboard needed for these young TLC Jarvis ambassadors to successfully make the shift towards their own futures.

After deep discussions, Thea has decided to retire from the organisation, handing over the operations to Pippa to take forward into the future.

In recognition of her years of service to humanity TLC would like to reach out to the world to honour her legacy in a practical and powerful way.

Thea sought no reward for her 25 years of work.

Now in her later years TLC would like to create a modest fund to take care of her needs without having her subject to the stresses and strains of the unpredictability that is life in the NGO sector.

We are looking for partners who believe that such a hero deserves some recognition now that her time has come to reflect on her life's achievements with pride.

If you are one of those people who believes a life of selfless service to humanity should be honoured please consider joining us as we plan to mark a beautiful milestone in the life of this extraordinary woman.

We plan to honour Thea with a retirement party on 20^th July 2019. We have had a kind offer from a friend to provide the venue but are limited to inviting 100 people as a result. Please let us know if you are interested in attendingand we will do our best to accommodate you.

We are conscious this is a short time to prepare and we would like to ensure everyone gets the chance to honour Thea properly so we are committed to celebrating her 70^th Birthday in October 2020, in style, so keep that in mind too! More details will follow soon.

Going forward, Thea will focus her energy, as the matriarch of the family, in providing wisdom and guidance, working closely with professionals to help the success of our soon to be implemented “Strive to Thrive” Youth Empowerment Program where the young adults raised in the family will be equipped with the necessary skills for employment and independence.

With your help, TLC will be implementing our “Strive to Thrive” program over the next few months. We will transition our young adults out of the main house and provide a safe on site “Student Residence” type of experience and living. We intend to achieve this bymodifying existing accommodation to provide a placewhere they can be exposed to an environment which is designed to foster the kind of confidence and life skills they will need to live independently as they prepare for transitioning from TLC into the ‘real’ world.

As Thea’s children this cohort will always be an intimate part of the TLC family and so our practical plans are aimed at ensuring that Thea is able to live safely and comfortably in the family home where she has lived for the last 21 years. While some of her youngsters will be living just down the TLC lane, Thea will remain in her home with those who are not yet ready to enter the program.

As with every plan at TLC, there is a lot to consider and though we have some excellent plans and can see how this will be a pivotal part in the long-term ability of TLC to sustain itself, nothing can be done until we can secure the much needed funding to make it happen. Our early estimations are there will be 2 phases to consider for proper execution:

Phase 1: Repair and interventions (and possible Temporary space hire) to make the physical move work

Cost estimates of approximately ($38 000) R550 000

Phase 2: Renovation of existing structures to bring them to acceptable standards and create internal divides to help clearly separate Thea’s Family home from the organisation.

Cost estimates to be confirmed ~ ($14 000) R200 000

To complete the physical transition we are hoping to partner with companies who may have the skills and could help us keep the costs as low as possible.

Those of you who would like more information are invited to contact us. If you are as excited as we are and want to help, feel free to reference any donations toward this project as “STRIVE”.

We are so looking forward to empowering our youth for a meaningful future and we hope that you are too

_________________________________

In the coming weeks we will be adding new fundraising projects to GlobalGiving to support these Programs.

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May 10, 2019
What we Learn with Joy we Never Forget

By Faith Abrahams | Communications Manager

Holiday Outings

Dearest Mission: Tuition Supporters,

As always we are so grateful for your support in investing in the education of our children. We are continually humbled by the generosity of those who help us put our children through school! It is an amazing gift which we do not take for granted.

With all the uncertainty and significant financial difficulties we have faced over the last year we continue to do our best in providing as stable an environment as possible that celebrates their achievements, but also recognises and supports them through the difficulties and struggles that are a common challenge in any child's schooling journey.

We love seeing our youngest little ones master new milestones day by day. We make use of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) set standards for learning, development and care which provide a great way for us to track their development and address any developmental issues they may exhibit as soon as possible. It is always so reassuring to receive positive feedback from forever families that our babies and children are able to cope remarkably well with their peers once they have been placed with their forever families.

For our older children we have had many school holidays over the last 3 months; with a term break, Easter weekend and a number of bank holidays. With all these holidays one of our American resident volunteers, Jessica Bender with the support of her friends and family, took the opportunity to treat our Creepies (1-2 year olds), Lions (2-3 year olds), Tigers (4 - 6 year olds) and Brears (6+ year olds) to a week full of fun activities! They had pony rides, a bird show, magic show and science show! It was a wonderful blessing to see the childrens making magical childhood memories, many experiencing these new wonders for the first time.

Some of the updates from the children's schooling jouney so far this year:

S* (13 years) goes to a remedial school. His teacher broke her leg badly and so he had battled to settle in this term as he doesn't manage disruption well.

A* (7 years) needs more intensive genetic investigations to try help identify his underlying challenges as even the supported learning environment offered at his school is proving to be too difficult for him

S* (14 years) was made a prefect. He is so proud! As are we!

M* (15 years) Has just started high school. A bit delayed due to having been off school for so long with removal of cancerous tumors in his ears. He is settling in and has joined the school choir.

C* (13 years) Has been invited to ride the 94.7 cycle challenge for The Character Company again this year.

L* (4 years) Started at a new pre-school this year and has settled in so nicely now

B* (6 years) is very intellegent and getting glowing reports from her preschool teachers.

Thank you for being a part of this jouney with us. We are incredibly grateful for your support and commitment in helping us continue providing quality care to these babies and children who rely on us collectively as caregivers, supporters and champions.

With Gratitude and
Kind Regards
Faith Abrahams
faithj@tlc.org.za
+27 83 382 0678

Learning to Climb

Easter Egg Decorating

After School Fun with Big Sister!

Bird Show

Face Painting

Pony Rides

Magic Show

Science Show

Snack Time Outside

Relaxed Holiday Vibes

Our Creepies (1-2year olds) learning to colour

One-on-One Picnic

Playtime with the Girl Gang!

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Feb 11, 2019
A New School Year Starts!

By Faith Abrahams | Communications Manager

Back to School 2019!

It's hard to believe 2018 has come and gone, and we are already into the second month of 2019!

We just want to sincerely thank everyone who has supported the edcuation of our children thus far. It means so much to us to have your support.

For those who may not be aware, at the end of November last year we shared some pretty heartbreaking news. With the struggling financial situation we have found ourselves in over the last few years, consistenly finding ourselves dealing with a significant financial deficit, we announced that we would be facing potential closure if there was not a significant improvement in our financial situation within six months. Over the past 2 months many people have reached out to us to help us through this financial crisis. Whilst we are by no means in the clear we have been shown enough support to extend the benchmark for considering closure to the end of 2019. This will allow us some more time to generate the consistent monthly support which is so needed to allow us to continue well into the future.

Despite all the difficult emotions that come with dealing with the prospect of closure, life at TLC continues. At the end of last year our wonderful preschool teacher Ellen mannaged to pass her sponsored montessori course with flying colours! She has eagrly been encorporating her new found knowledge and skills into her lessons with our little ones. It has been amazing to see her and the children all flourishing together.

The school break over the Chirstmas season always throws our routine for a loop, but there were many opportunites for fun and free-play not to mention hosted christmas parties. For most of our school going children, Back-to-School day was on the 9th of January. It's always an exciting and chaotic day as we have a few children starting pre-school for the first time, primary for the first time and of course moving to new grades. The flurry of activity to wrap books in time, get all the stationery and uniforms is always exhausting but so rewarding to know they have the gift of an education. Thank you for being part of the team that recognises the value of this gift!

We are so grateful that for this school year we have managed to secure a significant amount of partial sponsorships for the children, to the value of $23,000! This is an amazing help to us, but we still require about $35,000 to cover the outstanding expenses for the 2019 school year. We will be working on launching a new Mission: Tuition page on our website with details on specific children which supporters can choose to sponsor. This will hopefully be live by Friday 15th of February 2019.

Lastly, I would just like to say again how honoured we are to have had your support in helping us to educate the children in our care. Your support is valued and if there is ever anything you would like to know more about or even just to reach out in a more personal capacity we are always eager to hear from our supporters.

With Sincere Gratitude and
Kind Regards,
Faith Abrahams
faithj@tlc.org.za

Back to School - Silly Faces!

First Day of School!

She Aced her Montessori Course!

Macaroni Creations!

Shapes and Puzzles!

So Excited to Start Grade 1!

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