Two-A-Day Education Trust opens further learning opportunities

10 Jun 2016

Grower-owned Grabouw fruit packhouse, Two-A-Day and the Two-A-Day Education Trust is making 30 tertiary education bursaries available to family of staff. According to trustee and Two-A-Day's HR director Dimitri Jacobs "We don't want children leaving school to have the excuse not to study further if they want to."

Back row (from left to right): Andre Fielies, Kirshen Aploon, Alletta Jonas, Joseph Aploon, Hermanus Koppies, Dimitri Jacobs, Jakobus Hansen. Front row: Andrea Fielies, Juané Koppies, Elru Hansen, Annemie Hansen.

“We have received 34 applications for funding and 30 have been approved,” he says.

Aletta Jonas, a fruit packer at Two-A-Day has been with the company for 14 years and when her adult daughter Hilary Manis wanted to leave Two-A-Day to study nursing at Strand Oasis they applied: “The bursary is a very good thing as I don’t have the money to help Hilary with her fees”, she says, adding: “I would encourage the children to apply because Two-A-Day is a very good company. In the past we had absolutely no access to money to let our children learn.”

Dorothea Poppies has worked as a cleaner at Two-A-Day for 26 years. She and her husband, Hermanus described the process of applying for funding so that their daughter Juané could study Forensic Science at University if the Western Cape in the Criminology Department as “everything was easy.” “We applied for other funding which was difficult. This was a user-friendly process,” Hermanus explained.

Jakobus Hansen and his wife Annemie work at Diepgat Farm in Hermanus and deliver fruit to Two-A-Day. “As members of Two-A-Day we appreciate that Two-A-Day treats us the same as their own shareholders. The bursary is a good thing and we appreciate it very much,” Jakobus says. Daughter Ecru is studying Human Life Science at the University of Stellenbosch and living in residence there. “The bursary helps a lot with the fees. I am a third year now and the workload is really a lot and it is hard to juggle studying with the practicals and to stay focussed. I want to work in a hospital, if possible, otherwise in a laboratory” she says.

Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing, responsible for marketing the fruit from Two-A-Day and from Ceres Fruit Growers, recently sponsored two Grabouw healthy living events that were fundraisers for local Grabouw schools. Tru-Cape managing director Roelf Pienaar, himself a part-time Finance lecturer for University of Stellenbosch Business School graduates, says that quality education is one of the keys to breaking the poverty cycle.

“We take our responsibility to sell South African apples and pears very seriously because our ability to do so directly impacts over 15,200 people and their families. Being the largest marketer of South African apples and pears isn’t enough if we don’t also leave our community and our land in a better position. Two-A-Day’s Education Trust, and the bursaries they provide, makes a real difference to securing a better future for us all.” he ends.