Gumtree Extreme ReFresh – Little Pina Pina revealed!

GUMTREE EXTREME REFRESH: Gumtree and DJ Fresh unveil renovated and refurbished Soweto day-care centre 

Just over four weeks ago, Gumtree partnered with DJ Fresh for the Gumtree Extreme ReFresh project, which saw the local DJ spearhead the renovation and refurbishment of Little Pina Pina – a day-care centre in Soweto.

But this was no ordinary renovation – in order to ReFresh the crèche, DJ Fresh called on Gauteng residents to visit www.gumtree.co.za/refresh to post an ad to donate an item on Little Pina Pina’s Wish List.

Fresh also challenged small businesses based in Gauteng to volunteer their skills and expertise on Gumtree to help transform the place from run-down to restored.

“Making a difference and helping out – that’s what I do,” explains DJ Fresh. “The response has been amazing and we’ve been overwhelmed by the number of people wanting to donate”.

Calls for donations were made on DJ Fresh’s 5fm breakfast show, his social media platforms and in a YouTube video which has to date received close to 24 000 views.

Gautengers came to Little Pina Pina’s rescue, with several dozen locals posting donations on South Africa’s largest website. Claire Cobbledick, Head of Marketing for Gumtree believes the website’s large and loyal fan base was crucial to the success of the campaign.

“It was wonderful to see our users come forward in such a different way and help make a massive contribution to this needy cause,” she explains.

In fact, charitable Gumtree users donated an abundance of items, such as toys, books, kitchen appliances, office equipment, electronics and furniture to the crèche. The Gumtree Extreme ReFresh team travelled around Gauteng collecting the donations and taking them straight to the day-care centre.

Thanks to the generosity of local small businesses, DJ Fresh and the Gumtree Extreme ReFresh team were also able to renovate the classrooms, kitchen, bathroom, office and sick room of Little Pina Pina by re-plastering, -painting, -flooring and -plumbing the facility.

In addition, the team installed artificial grass and revamped the outside area so that the 60 young kids who attend the day-care centre have somewhere safe to play.

Mama Lorraine, who has cared for children at Little Pina Pina for over 17 years, says that the ReFresh has been life changing. “We are so happy to have new toys for the children, grass for them to play on and new kitchen appliances so we can cook for them every day. We are very thankful to everyone who donated to our day-care centre and to Gumtree and DJ Fresh”.

Look out for a video on Gumtree’s YouTube channel on Thursday 18 September to see the spectacular transformation for yourself!

And don’t forget, if you have items that you would like to get rid of but you do not wish to sell, you can donate them to those in need by posting an ad in Gumtree’s Charity Donations category.

About Little Pina Pina Educare Centre:

Little Pina Pina Educare Centre – a day-care centre located in Orlando East, Soweto – has been run by Lorraine Mnyandu since 1997 when Ms Mnyandu opened the centre. Each day, over 60 young children aged 2 – 5 attend Little Pina Pina where Ms Mnyandu and her staff cater, nurture and provide an early childhood development programme (including mental, physical, cognitive and social development) to the students. The children of Little Pina Pina come from economically disadvantaged families facing unemployment, poverty and poor health and housing conditions. Ms Mnyandu and the staff of Little Pina Pina are dedicated to providing a supportive, stimulating and safe environment for the young children of this community in the belief that early childhood development can have significant long-term effects.

About Gumtree

Launched in South Africa in 2005, Gumtree has helped millions of people buy, sell and trade millions of goods and services. Gumtree.co.za is the most visited and largest classifieds website in South Africa. With local sites for hundreds of cities and towns across the country, Gumtree makes it easy for South Africans to find exactly what they’re looking for in their own community. Gumtree is part of the eBay Classifieds Group, the global leader in online classifieds with a global presence in more than 20 countries and 1,000 cities.

Follow Gumtree on Twitter @gumtreecoza or find us on Facebook. Don’t forget to post about the Gumtree Extreme ReFresh using #ReFresh.

To view hundreds of thousands of ads and learn more about South Africa’s largest online classifieds, visit http://www.gumtree.co.za/.