Anne Siroky and Jillian Alexander from the Silvertown-based non-profit organisation, The Future Factory, celebrate that they could distribute more than 14 000 Easter eggs.

Anne Siroky, founder, The Future Factory

The Future Factory Easter Egg Drive 2023 reached a target of 14 335, smashing the record of last year by 1 335.

A dream that started during Covid-19, but for me and The Future Factory started with Project 60, in 2020 as I was meant to celebrate 60 years of life. Instead of a party, I thought Easter eggs would go down well as hunger became more of a priority in the greater Western Cape. The first year we collected 1 000 marshmallows, then both Jillian Alexander, our director, and I decided let’s continue with the drive. Our phones started to ring and before we knew it 3 000 Easter eggs were not enough in 2021, the following year we had requests from even further and the eggs travelled to Klawer, Vredendal, Caledon, and Oudtshoorn, bringing smiles in every area with our partnership with WC Community Care and our international donors of Children’s Helpers WorldWide, Catherine Franks, and from Belgium, Dominique Deltiens. With their help and support we can continue the feeding programmes that have grown since the Covid days to even more mouths to feed, which means the request for Easter eggs has trebled, and then it was 13 000. With the amazing article of the Athlone News last year through Athlone News reporter Hazel Allies-Husselman, we were determined to bring even more joy through this Easter time.

We never knew it would be so challenging, however through all our donors, schools - namely St Georges Grammar School, Otters Creek Pre and Primary School, Sacs Junior and Timour Hall Primary School - we were well on our way to try and beat our last year’s total of 13 000 to 14 335 this year. We would like to thank every individual, donors who opened their hearts especially at the last minute to help us achieve our new record. Needless to say, our target in 2024 would have to start at 14 000.

This year our requests are once again from and all over the Western Cape and surrounding areas, through our feeding and sharing our month with our Islamic community it is heart-warming that this drive is shared across cultural divides and we shared our Easter eggs with a street boeka in Manenberg. Other areas include Bridgetown, Silvertown, Gleemore, Belhar, Delft, Kraaifontein, Parkwood, Mitchell’s Plain. These include some crèches, children’s homes, old age homes, informal settlements, just to name a few who are beneficiaries of these marshmallow Easter eggs.

We are so grateful to God for His blessing on our non-profit organisation (NPO), and our gratitude knows no boundaries. To everyone who supported our cause a massive thank you.