Breath of Life Place of Safety House parents launch
Breath of Life, an initiative of the Restore Trust NGO, operates a Place of Safety in Selborne, East London. The Place of Safety is home to 6 abandoned babies at a time, caring for them while partner organisations (Child Welfare, CMR) place them into healthy adoptive forever families or repatriate them with biological family relatives.
Breath of Life has been operating since 2009, and has had 119 babies in its care since then. Babies generally stay for 3-6 months. Babies are brought in by SAPS and members of the public who find babies that have been abandoned at birth in the city.
Andrew and Michelle Rielly are the new House Parents at the Place of Safety. The house was closed for renovations but is now fully operational.
The Rielly’s celebrated the start of their tenure at the Place of Safety with a launch tea on Sunday 10 September at the house. Over 60 people attended, including members of Stirling Baptist Church (founders of Restore Trust), friends and family, donors and volunteers.
Quotes:
Michelle, how was the launch event?
The launch tea was a great success. The changes we have made were received with great enthusiasm and there were even a couple of tears of joy. We also got to meet volunteers and donors and we got to thank the people and businesses who were instrumental in the renovations.
Michelle, what lead you and Andrew to take this step?
Gods call and his prompting was loud and clear. We are excited for this new chapter for our family and Breath of Life.
Andrew, how are you feeling about this new undertaking?
Very excited and scared at the same time but it’s a good scared. I am just happy that we are now at the stage where the house is complete and we are ready to make a difference.
“We are very excited about Andrew and Michelle joining our team. They have brought new energy and skills to the project. We believe they will prove to be excellent house parents and provide the best care for these precious babies.” – Roger Curran, Director of the Restore Trust.
Article & Photographs: The PR Agency