Hope School wins gold and R170k in J&J Trust Awards

Hope School, an independent charity-run school in East London which caters for more than 200 disadvantaged children affected and orphaned by HIV/Aids, has won gold in the 2016 Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Trust Awards’ community and volunteering category.

The school received £10000 (almost R170 000) prize money, which came with the accolade.

Launched in 2014, the J&J Trust Awards aim to recognise the impact of J&J-funded corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes across Europe, the Middle East and Africa with a focus on two main categories – community engagement and volunteering and health care initiatives.

The celebration and cheque hand-over was held at East London J&J on Friday.

The company’s site leader Michelle Williams said each category offered a gold, silver and bronze award, with prize money totalling £35000 (almost R584 000). She said last year saw a record number of 40 entries received from across 23 countries.

“The entries were judged by an award committee team before being opened for employee voting. The final selection of category winners was made by the trust board of directors,” Williams said.

In 2015, J&J donated 14ha of company land at their Wilsonia site to the school.

“We have been working alongside Hope School for many years now, and have watched their dedicated team of visionaries, teachers and fundraisers do everything in their power to give their pupils the brightest possible futures,” Williams said.

Hope School principal Nigel Raw said the prize money will be used towards establishing a skills development programme for the pupils.

“We are truly grateful for this award, the partnership between the school and J&J is a blessing,” Raw said. — arethal@dispatch.co.za