Addressing the need for skills development in the Western Cape, PPC has donated a brickmaking machine, Jojo tank and a container to the Freeway Recovery Centre. The donation will allow the beneficiaries to experience a better quality of life and empower them for future employment while affording them the opportunity to realise their entrepreneurial ambitions.
Freeway Recovery Centre is a Non-Profit Organisation and has been in existence for the past three years. Its support of vulnerable members of society who have ended up on the streets, homeless, unemployed, alone and have turned to substance abuse is encouraging. Freeway Recovery Centre provides a recovery program, tools and skills training that gives the beneficiaries the direction and foundation to begin a sustainable, productive re-integration back into society.
Clint Wicomb, PPC Sales & Marketing General Manager for Coastal region explains, âworking with management at the Freeway Recovery Centre, we have developed a way to give the beneficiaries a skill. This purpose is focused on demonstrating how each individual can create a quality product that is supported by a 100% local product that has stood the test of time. With these tools and knowledge provided, each individual leaves the workshop better placed to enter the local economy with a new skill and renewed confidenceâ.
âI havenât yet been involved in anything cement or block related, however, the experience and knowledge in this programme has given me the confidence that I will now be able to look for work in that field. My skills have increased, and I stand a better chance of being employed,â says Emile Naiker brickmaking programme attendee.
The workshops were led by PPC sales specialists, who pass on their knowledge to offer individual brick-makers the required support to provide a consistent quality product either as a brickmaker or as an entrepreneur. With cement being a technical product, PPCâs technical team was in site to empower beneficiaries with expertise that will ensure that they well placed to make the best use of PPCâs fit for purpose products. With ongoing mentoring to complement the expertise that is transferred at the workshop, we have been able to instill the fact that better quality bricks make better houses which ultimately results in a more stable community.
âThrough the PPC workshop trainings and donations, beneficiaries who are part of the Freeway Recovery Centre will benefit from the programme and donation. Skills such as brickmaking are passed down from generation to generation giving them confidence in their ability to sustain their families and the communityâ, said Toto Jordan, Head of Marketing & Fundraising at Freeway Recovery Centre.
PPCâs 128-year experience within the community has made the business understand that by working together with the community, we are stronger. PPCâs commitment to empowering communities to experience a better quality of life is the reason it continues to seek out opportunities to inspire confidence and provide solutions that enable the nation to reach its potential.
âThe workshops and donation will play an integral part in ensuring 100% local and 100% quality products remain accessible to the sector and will assist in making a difference in the beneficiaries’ lives and expand their brickmaking skill. We are humbled to have had the center and its beneficiaries open their hearts and minds to us, giving us all the opportunity to upskill and give knowledge in the communities we operate in,â concluded Wicomb, PPC.