John Thompson’s Utility Boilers & Environmental (B&E) business unit recently successfully completed a corporate social investment (CSI) project linked to its long-term contract for the maintenance of the fabric filter plant at Eskom’s Grootvlei power station.
The project, initiated by Eskom, consisted in providing a kitchen for a school feeding scheme run by the Siyathemba Primary School in Siyathemba township in Balfour, Mpumalanga, which is situated close to the Grootvlei power station.
“We visited the school late last year when we saw that it was running a feeding scheme for the school’s learners from one of its classrooms. We suggested providing them with a container kitchen for the feeding scheme, which would free up the classroom for teaching purposes,” said Shepard Jobe, the B&E unit’s Stakeholder Liaison Manager.
“The school’s Principal, Mr Teboho Moloi, accepted our offer, whereupon we acquired a used 6m container at the beginning of this year and had it fitted out as a kitchen with all the necessary equipment and services,” he explained.
An official handover ceremony was held in early-August, attended by Mr Moloi and some of the school’s teaching staff, as well as an Eskom representative and a member of the school’s governing body. At this event Mr Moloi presented a plaque to Shepard expressing the school’s gratitude to John Thompson for providing the kitchen for its feeding scheme. The plaque, bearing the school’s coat-of-arms at the top, reads: “In recognition of your generous donation of the kitchen built to offer hope to our learners. Siyathemba Primary School Nutrition Programme”.
