About Us
- Iris House 2011
- Iris House 2012
- Iris House 2013
- Iris House 2014
- Iris House 2015
- Iris House 2016
- Iris House 2017
- Iris House 2018
- Iris House 2019
- Iris House 2020
- Iris House 2021
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.