About Us

After returning from eight years in the UK. Sue van der Linde came home to South Africa with a mission. During her time in England, Sue had worked with Julia’s House in Dorset where she trained and worked as a carer. Her passion for Special Needs Children and the knowledge she gained with Julia’s House provided the inspiration needed to open her own version of this service in Cape Town. In May of 2011 Iris House Children’s Hospice was formed . At the end of 2011 Iris House had 12 registered families, very little support and only two volunteers. However great things come from small beginnings …

 

After returning from eight years in the UK. Sue van der Linde came home to South Africa with a mission. During her time in England, Sue had worked with Julia’s House in Dorset where she trained and worked as a carer. Her passion for Special Needs Children and the knowledge she gained with Julia’s House provided the inspiration needed to open her own version of this service in Cape Town. In May of 2011 Iris House Children’s Hospice was formed . At the end of 2011 Iris House had 12 registered families, very little support and only two volunteers. However great things come from small beginnings …

 

 

 

 

 

2012 saw Iris House grow not only in size but also in credibility. The care team grew to 12 carers, and families to 27. Significant events included meeting Premier Helen Zille resulting in Iris House been awarded their first grant from the Department of Social Development. The first Iris House annual Ball, development of the in house Care Team training program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2013 was an outstanding year for Iris House. The number of registered families surged to 93. Iris House was again awarded a grant from the DSD and were also selected as part of the Premiers pilot project in Mfuleni and Vredenburg to identify and support family’s with Special Needs Children and disabled family members. We received our PBO and NPO numbers (essential to corporate fundraising) and held our first family market day at Nitida Wine Farm.  Our founder and Chairman Sue was honoured by the Sunday Times and Johnny Walker, making the finals of the nation’s greatest awards in October.

 

 

 

2014 saw Iris House grow from strength to strength. We established hubs in Vredenburg, Mfuleni and Khayelitsha. Our care team continued to grow and our training program received a huge boost with sponsorship from Grand Slots.  A bid was submitted end of 2014 for a building on the grounds of Stikland. Iris House was on the map.

January 2015 saw Iris House embark on it’s most ambitious project to date, the renovations of the Hospice grounds and building. Phase One “Day Care” was officially opened by Premier Helen Zille on the 14th of April 2015. The Ball in August was our most successful to date, we also were donated the funds to purchase a brand new seven seater people carrier. Our Stables were sponsored by Rotary Claremont and our sensory room fitted out by Rotary Oostenberg. The year concluded with our AGM and two new board members joining our team.

 

 

2016 Saw so many improvements at our hospice, we worked hard to achieve our Health licence for day and overnight care. The emphasis for the year was on upgrading what was till then a very basic hospice layout. Due to the generosity of our sponsors and the public support we received we were able to replace and upgrade our hospice grounds and building. We also due to the kindness of Craig Caper at our 2015 Ball were now able to collect children from Mfuleni and Kyahlitsha with our own 7 seater vehicle. There were changes in the permanent staff with sad farewells and many new faces joining us. We focused on formalising our care structure in the community and trained many new carers, we also upgraded our policies and procedures and formalised our hospice sessions. Above all we were able to spoil our families with many special events at the hospice

 

2017 was a remarkable year for Iris House, Not only did we expand our community care to 20 areas, but we were able to assist over 300 children and young adults with special needs. We appointed new persons to our board and fundraising team and also trained over 60 carers.

Iris House again expanded our service offering reaching over 400 special needs children and their families. Our therapies really came into their own in 2018 with our Adaptive Surfing program in full swing, followed by funding for our own adaptive wetsuits and boards. We also received Lotto funding for the first time, which enabled us to purchase our “work horse” bakkie, used to collect and distribute food, clothing and items of furniture to our families in need

2019 Saw Iris House grow to over 500 registered children and their families. We also moved our main fundraising event – The Iris House Purple Ball to the Mount Nelson Hotel and gained an amazing Patron, Mrs Tracy Winde, former volunteer carer. Although this was one of our tougher years financially, we were successful in the quarter of the year to again receive Lotto funding for running costs. Which has stood us in good stead for 2020. We also were able to expand our Doggy Day care, and have made great strides in growing our Doggy Day care and getting a lease on the ex Chere Botha property which we want to use as a school readiness – Autism centre of excellence for children on the very long school waiting lists. We have also applied for a Child Safety Licence which will see us being able to train safety parents / foster parents to be able to secure homes for our children at risk. An extremely neglected area within special needs. We have unfortunately come across many cases of abuse, with very little to no option of proper placement for these children away from their perpetrators. We eagerly await the departments outcome in April 2020.

 

2020 was by all accounts one of the toughest years Iris House had ever faced. The onset of the worldwide pandemic Covid19 saw all of our regular fundraising events canceled. Also, an additional budget was needed for PPC to ensure the safety of our staff and the children in our care. It became very obvious that we would need to pivot and change our services to better support our children and their families during this trying time. Many of our low-income families lost their jobs and were facing terrible hardships. It was decided to drastically increase our practical support of our families, but supplying them with wholesome care parcels, made up of meat, chicken, fresh fruit and vegetables, tinned food, etc. During the year we delivered over 400 such parcels to our families in need. We also changed the way we fundraised with online ” virtual ” events. At times we were not able to bring children to our hospice due to the high risk of cross-infection. However, we more than double our community care and support services. We were awarded our child protection agency rating and began to train safety and foster parents to be able to secure homes for our children at risk. Although the year was a trying one, we continued to grow. Despite the challenges, we faced the Iris House team remained totally committed to our mission.

2021 was an incredible year for Iris House. It was also our 10-year anniversary. Although Covid 19 continued to dictate the way we ran our services, with every change of lockdown level we were able to open up more of our services, in particular at the hospice. Due to the lack of demand for overnight care and the need for social distancing, it was decided to change our main bedroom into a second playroom. With the assistance of a new sponsor, the once bedroom became a beautiful playroom with an artificial grass carpet, filled with light and wonderful new furnishing and toys. We also awarded 10-year service awards to four of our team members. Tracy Winde our patron, Kathy Gentz, director, Carol Petersen, Aux Social Worker, and Sis G our housekeeper. In a bold move to increase our fundraising, we launched the “Save Iris House ” campaign on Givengain with a big target of half a million rand. The campaign was supported by new and past sponsors as well as the amazing residents of the Western Cape. One such event was our 10 peaks in 10 hours for 10 years of service, undertaken by Stefan van Neel. This event raised a fantastic R110 000.00 for the campaign. By the end of 2021, we had raised over half a million Rand and ensured that Iris House could continue to grow and provide our services free of charge. We finished the year with over 580 registered children and their families.