Help make a young dream come true on Slipper Day

With Slipper Day just over a month away, the Reach for a Dream Foundation is urging BCM residents to get involved and help them raise funds.

On Slipper Day, which will take place on May 7, people are encouraged to wear their slippers to work in return to a donation to the organisation. Alternatively, they may purchase a R20 sticker from the foundation’s website, Wimpy, Pick n Pay and Dischem stores from April 5 onwards.

Each sticker purchased earns the buyer a free Famous Wimpy Coffee on Slipper Day.

According to Reach for a Dream marketing manager Roxanne Manuel, the pandemic has hit the organisation hard, with last year’s Slipper Day having to be cancelled.

“We therefore tried our very best to raise funds virtually through online events and auctions. At the same time we could no longer go to hospitals to fulfil the dreams of children facing life-threatening illnesses,” Manuel said.

“That meant we had to find new ways of engaging with dreamers.”

As previously reported by the GO! & Express (“Making patients’ dreams a ‘reality’”, March 4), the foundation is making use of virtual reality sets to allow children to experience their dreams without having to leave their hospital beds.

Manuel said they are still looking for donors and content creators to sponsor their virtual reality project. So far, seven kits have been sold to hospitals around the country.

“Both the children suffering threatening medical conditions and their families are placed under enormous psychological, financial and emotional stress.

“We try to alleviate that stress in a small way by realising one of the children’s dreams which, in the past, could have included meeting somebody famous, having an experience such as a helicopter trip, seeing the sea or having a bedroom makeover,” she said.

“Essentially it’s about inspiring hope and giving them a reason to keep fighting.”

For more information, visit the Reach for a Dream website.