FNB gives generously

THE third FNB Spirit of Giving campaign brought more joy to some of the most deserving charities in the country.

Three charities were selected from 280 nominated by the public for the prizes totalling N$100 000.
The first prize of N$50 000 went to the Joint Compassion Keepers (JCK) in Rundu, a faith-based organisation running a centre focusing on community upliftment and child welfare.
Tuschelda Phillips, who suggested the project to the FNB Foundation, was an abused child who found refuge at the centre.
Jimmy Kearney of the JCK said the money would go towards taking care of ‘more than 1 000 young bodies and souls’ at the centre.
Phillips also won N$5 000 for her nomination.
The second prize of N$30 000 went to the Democratic Resettlement Community (DRC) project in Swakopmund.
The DRC is an informal settlement just outside Swakopmund, where people from rural regions have moved to find work in the nearby town.
Most children who grow up in the settlement do not go to school, and the project has taken up the challenge of introducing these children to education.
Children are taken up for a year from the age of six and older and educated as in any other school.
After the year is over, the project tries to place them with schools in the area.
The project also operates an incubation centre for local entrepreneurs and runs public education sessions.
The project was suggested by Helvi Jones from the DRC community, who received N$3 000 for her effort.
Third place of N$20 000 went to the Tutungeni Centre for Hope at Rosh Pinah, which runs a twice-weekly soup kitchen for needy people.
With the donation, chairperson Anabela Beukes said the centre was now closer to reaching its goal to provide daily meals at the soup kitchen.
When she heard about winning the award, Beukes said she ‘was so excited that she had a sleepless night’.
The Tutungeni project was nominated by Sandra Jordaan, who received N$2 000.
The FNB Foundation’s Acting Chair Dieter Voigts said the FNB Spirit of Giving Campaign’s objective is to speed up development in Namibia from grassroots level.
Voigts congratulated the three projects and said he hoped ‘the FNB Spirit of Giving Campaign will enable you to achieve the objectives you have set for yourselves’.
The FNB Foundation distributes one per cent of the bank’s profits to charitable projects. Voigts said the bank’s social investment currently stands at over N$3,5 million.