Sanca George: 25 years of service

GEORGE NEWS - The South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (Sanca) George proudly announced the celebration of 25 years of service delivery in the George community at their annual meeting last week.

In her speech, director Denise de Beer sketched the history of Sanca George and reported about their activities over the past year.

Sanca George started out as a project of the Lion's Club and the Outeniqua Drug Abuse Action Group (Odag). In 1994 the first community worker was appointed and in 1996 Odag became affiliated with Sanca Western Cape.

De Beer said in the past year they attended two Sanca provincial and national meetings.

"The goal of these meetings is to ensure that the same quality of services is rendered in all the provinces where Sanca operates. We are very proud to say that Sanca George falls under the top performing offices in the Sanca family.

"We congratulate the staff and governing board for this achievement."

From 1 April 2018 to 30 March 2019 about 575 new and/or returning service users have entered their programmes. "This is a significant increase from the previous financial year and it poses a great challenge for the eight staff members who aim to meet each service user's needs to the best of their ability," she said.

Most of the referrals (242) were received from schools. "This opened the opportunity for Sanca George to offer our services at some of the schools in group settings, where it is easier for the learners to access our services. We are thankful to other NGOs who also refer people to our organisation as we work together to strengthen families in our community."

There were about 69 people who came of their own free will, and Sanca is proud of these people for their courage to seek help. "The majority of these service users were unemployed or underage."

The two new social workers Sanca George welcomed last year, Zonnica Scheepers and Henry Bailey, have been doing good work and are passionate about their work. De Beer thanked Vanessa Titus, who is celebrating 10 years of service at Sanca George this year, for her "dedication, hard work and enthusiasm she has shared with the organisation through these years" and said Titus enjoys working with children and offering guidance to parents in dealing with substance abuse.

Sanca George thanked everyone, including Sr Marx, for their continued involvement.

Sanca George thanked the men involved. With director Denise de Beer (back) are, from left: Gerald Fortuin (deputy chair), Mzoli Mavimbela (social worker), Henry Bailey (social worker), John Jacobs (treasurer) and Tiaan van der Burgh (additional).