With more than one outreach initiative under her management, February’s Lead SA Hero in Cape Town is a mother who is helping terminally ill children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Christy Haefele is the founder of Beating Heart SA. However, her latest venture is the Heart 2 Heart network – a platform through which mothers band together to help terminally ill children from underprivileged backgrounds.
“Heart 2 Heart is a mommy driven network with a vision to ensure that sick and terminally ill children from disadvantaged backgrounds don’t face the prospect of a cheerless birthday.”
— Heart 2 Heart
The organisation hosts birthday parties for these children, so that they and their families can enjoy a special occasion together despite financial difficulties.
It also provides a platform for charities and disadvantaged families to ask for assistance and donations.
“Our goal is to connect moms with a passion to make a difference around the Cape, to organisations and families in need. Whether once off or on a regular basis, a home made cake or a small monetary contribution.”
— Heart 2 Heart
“We feel that by pooling our talents, our time, our collective passion, we can bring a moment of joy a lasting memory to a family in grief.”
— Christy Haefele, Founder of Heart 2 Heart
Christy notes that the network doesn’t want to be front-and-centre at these events. In fact, sometimes children don’t even realise that they have been involved at all.
“We’ve had it where we’ve done these birthday parties before and the child hasn’t even seen us, hasn’t seen that we’ve brought anything and that’s the point – the point is that mom, regardless of what she’s having to deal with[…]she actually made this day special.”
— Christy Haefele, Founder of Heart 2 Heart
