PHILIPPINE EMBASSY, PRETORIA DONATES TO PROJECT TO WARM CITY’S NEEDY FOR THE WINTER 

26 June 2006 — Philippine Ambassador to Pretoria, South Africa Virgilio A. Reyes, Jr. reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that Embassy officers and personnel donated Rand 1,050 (US$141) in response to the "Blanket the City" Project of South African national daily Pretoria News aimed at bringing some warmth to those most in need in the city. 

Ambassador Reyes said that the staff felt it right to help others during the cold snap and so decided to pass the hat to help Pretoria News "blanket the city," especially because of the expected chilly winter this year. 

According to the organizer Pretoria News, when they launched the project on 21 May 2006, their modest target was Rand 70,000 (US$11,666) to buy 2,000 blankets but the response from the city's constituents has been overwhelming and thus the paper collected Rand 144,411 (US$24,068) as the campaign closed on 21 June 2006, the winter solstice.  

The organizer says that 4,000 blankets have been distributed through various organizations, led by the Pretoria branch of the South African Red Cross Society, to some of the neediest and old and young people in Pretoria.  Some of the welfare and religious organizations that received the blanket donations are the Pretoria Council for the Care of the Aged, the Itumeleng Shelter and the Sonskynhoekie Care Centre. END