OPTION 1: BRONZE SPONSORSHIP

OPTION 2: SILVER SPONSORSHIP

OPTION 3: GOLD SPONSORSHIP

 

"Sounds good. So how do I get involved?"
Step 1:
Choose your sponsorship option: Bronze, Silver or Gold
Step 2:
Read Heartbeat’s Child Protection Policy
By signing up as a child sponsor for Heartbeat's Sponsor a Child in Need (SACIN) programme, you agree to the terms stipulated in this policy document.
Step 3:
To make your first donation to this programme, CLICK HERE. Please note that the preferred method of payment is by Credit Card.
Step 4:
Once your donation has been received in Heartbeat's account you will be contacted by the SACIN Manager, Karina Swann, who will assign a child to you according to the sponsorship option you chose.
Please note:
For any payment enquiries, or to check if/when your payment has been received by Heartbeat, kindly email karina@heartbeat.org.za for confirmation.

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"Fine, but lets talk money."
As explained, for the Silver and Gold sponsorships, the funds you donate towards the specific child assigned to you will be used to make sure that the particular child has access to / receive the following services and goods.
These are divided into Heartbeat’s 4 Programme Areas:

Programme	Material provision	Education	Children’s empowerment	Rights & Access
Services to OVC  that are provided through this programme	Food Parcels Food Gardens Donations-in-Kind Emergency Fund Government Grant Application Assistance	School Uniforms Stationery Pack Homework Assistance Holiday School Access to school/transport Exemption of School Fees Tertiary Education Fund Access	Home Visits Support Groups Individual Counseling Memory Work Abuse Interventions Staff Debriefing Holiday Programme Buddies & “Chozas” Child Evaluation Workshops Youth Ambassadors Puppet Shows Workshops Youth Camps	Ensuring that children’s basic rights are met, and that they access basic services for free.  (e.g. shelter, services, grants, free schooling, basic health and personal documents)

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"The fine print…"

• School Fees: Heartbeat advocates fiercely for the exemption of school fees for children in Child Headed Households, but if and when we don’t succeed, your contribution may also be used to pay for a child’s school fees. Heartbeat is proud of the fact that of the 3 000 OVC that we support (not all the children in our programmes qualify to be included in the SACIN programme), we do not pay school fees for one single child – through active lobbying and advocacy of our staff and forum members.
• Food: Heartbeat receives a monthly donation of basic foodstuffs from Tiger Brands for the children in this programme. This means that the bulk of our children’s food is sponsored. Additional foodstuffs may however also be bought from your donation.
• The Extra’s: Heartbeat may occasionally approach you for any critical / once off need that the child would have, and that we could not cover from your existing contributions. Such needs will include a gift for Christmas or a financial contribution towards a school trip or camp. Heartbeat does have a specific fund for emergencies, where we can access funds in cases of emergency.
• Administration: Heartbeat will use a small percentage from your contribution to cover our administration costs, including all correspondence (including phone, fax, postage, e-mail, printing costs and salaries for project staff) with you, the “Adoptive Parent”. We also partially cover the salaries of the 4 full time staff members that are employed to manage this programme, through these admin fees.
  
  The fee structure for the administration costs of the different levels of Sponsorship are as follows:
• Bronze sponsorship: R5.00 of your R50.00 per month, is used for administration
• Silver sponsorship: R30.00 of your R150.00 per month, is used for administration
• Gold sponsorship: R35.00 of your R200.00 per month, is used for administration

Tax Certificates: Heartbeat is a Section 21A Public Benefit Organisation and therefore can issue you with a tax certificate, for submission with your annual tax claim, on your request. Should you wish to receive such a certificate, kindly contact cindy@heartbeat.org.za and state that you require such a certificate to be sent to you. To save costs, Heartbeat prefers to email the tax certificate to you.

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"How does Heartbeat get goods and services to the child I support?"

Heartbeat has a dedicated team of more than a 100 community Child Care Workers in each community where we work. These people were recruited from the communities and are paid employees of Heartbeat. Each child on the SACIN Programme has a specific Child Care Worker assigned to him/her. This person visits your child in his/her household, provides counseling and support and assists with general housework and school homework. During these visits, the Child Care Worker completes a “Visit Assessment Form”, about the current state of things in the household. These “Visit Assessment Forms” also serves as a measure of quality control and is part of the Child Care Workers Key Performance Indicators against which he/she is evaluated bi-annually.

PLEASE NOTE!
THIS MEANS THAT HEARTBEAT NEVER GIVES MONEY TO THE CHILD OR HIS/HER FAMILY YOU SUPPORT, BUT RATHER PHYSICALLY PAYS FOR THE GOODS AND SERVICES IN ITS MINIMUM SERVICE PACKAGE. .

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"How do I get in contact with the child I sponsor?"

Heartbeat encourages interaction between the children in this programme and their sponsors. In the same instance, Heartbeat would like to protect the rights of its children, and one-on-one personal contact (i.e. phoning or personal visiting) with the child you are sponsoring, is therefore not allowed. (Read Heartbeat's Child Protection Policy)

You are however encouraged to correspond with your child via the SACIN Department at Heartbeat’s Head Office. Apart from this written form of contact, Heartbeat also encourages all sponsors to send a gift, a card or cake to the child they are supporting on his/her birthday. You have no idea what a difference something as small as a birthday card can make in the life of an orphan. You can follow the same procedure as above, but please send your gift or card one week in advance, in order for Heartbeat to ensure that your child receives the gift on his/her birthday.

During the Christmas period, Heartbeat’s offices are packed with gifts from all over South Africa. If you want to send a Christmas gift to your child, please do so by mid-NOVEMBER. In many cases, children visit relatives over the Christmas season and Heartbeat wants to ensure that they receive your gift before they actually go away for the holiday. Heartbeat’s Offices also close during the December holidays, so please ensure that your gift reaches us in time.

Please send all correspondence to the Postal Address below, clearly indicating the name of the child and your name as the sponsor to:
"Name and Surname" of the child you sponsor, the Community in which they live, SACIN Programme, Heartbeat, PO BOX 72294, Lynnwood Ridge, Pretoria, South Africa, 0040

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"What should I buy for my child’s birthday?"

Heartbeat recommends that you send something small so that it can easily reach Heartbeat via the post. We normally advise sponsors to be lead by the child’s age. Heartbeat suggests that you take a small box (e.g. a shoe box or office paper box) and fill it with goodies for your child to enjoy on his/her birthday.
We suggest you include the following in your child’s goodie pack:

• Non-Perishable Treats (e.g. sweets – not chocolate that would easily melt; cold drink concentrate, cookies, lollies, etc – something that the whole family can enjoy with the child on his/her birthday)
• Toiletries and Make-up (e.g. deodorant, soap and shaving kit for boys and for the girls make-up and perfume)
• Personal Items (e.g. a new purse, a diary, a new pencil case for school)
• Clothing Items (e.g. new socks, t-shirts, warm clothes for winter, scarves, beanies, etc)
• A Card / Letter (you would be surprised to know that very few orphans have ever received a birthday card.)

International size guide for children’s clothing and shoes courtesy of kiddieswear.com
US GIRL SIZES	UK SIZES Age (yrs)	Approximate Height
US size 2T =	1yr to 18mts	=34inches / 86cm
3T =	18mts - 2 yrs	= 37" / 94cm
S or 4 or 4T =	2yrs - 3yrs	= 39" / 99cm
M or 5 =	3yrs - 4yrs	= 42" / 107cm
M or 6 =	4yrs - 5 yrs	= 44" / 112cm
L or 6X =	5yrs - 6 yrs	= 46" / 118cm
XL or 7 =	6yrs - 7 yrs	= 48" / 123cm
XL or 8 =	7yrs - 8 yrs	= 50" / 128cm
XS or 6X =	6yrs	= 47" / 120cm
S or 7 =	7yrs	= 49" / 126cm
S or 8 =	8yrs	= 52" / 132cm
M or 10 =	10yrs	= 55" / 140cm
M or 12 =	11yrs	= 58" / 147cm
L or 14 =	12yrs	= 60" / 153cm
XL or 16 =	14yrs	= 63" / 160cm
US /UK BOYS toddler and smaller sizes
US size S or 4 =	2 - 3yrs	= 39" / 99cm
M or 5 / 6 =	3 - 5yrs	= 45" / 115cm
L or 6X / 7 =	5 - 6yrs	= 49" / 126cm
US bigger boys clothing sizes
size S or 7 / 8 =	9 yrs	= 52" / 132cm
M or 10 / 12 =	11yrs	= 59" / 150cm
L or 14 / 16 =	14yrs	= 64" / 163cm
XL or 18 / 20 =	16yrs	= 68" / 173cm
Footwear and Shoe Size Guide
US GIRL SIZES	UK SIZES Age (yrs)	Approximate Height
Children size 9 =	UK Child size 7 1/2	= 6 1/8 " / 15.5cm
10 =	8 1/2	= 6 1/2" / 16.5cm
11 =	9 1/2	= 6 13/16" / 17.5cm
12 =	101/2	= 7 1/8 " / 18cm
13 =	11 1/2	= 7 1/2" / 19cm
US Girls size 1 =	12 1/2	= 7 13/16" / 20cm
2 =	13 1/2	= 8 1/8 " / 20.5cm
2 1/2 =	UK Child size 1	= 8 5/16 " / 21 cm
3 =	1 1/2	= 8 1/2" / 21.5cm
4 =	2 1/2	= 8 13/16" / 22.5cm
5 =	3 1/2	= 9 1/8" / 23cm
US BOYS SIZES	UK BOYS SIZES Age (yrs)	Approximate Height
Child size 11 =	UK Child size 101/2	= 6 13/16" / 17.5cm
12 =	11 1/2	= 7 1/8 " / 18cm
13 =	12 1/2	= 7 1/2" / 19cm
Boys size 1 =	131/2	= 7 13/16" / 20cm
1 1/2 =	UK boys size 1	= 8 1/8 " / 20.5cm
2 =	1 1/2	= 8 5/16 " / 21 cm
3 =	2 1/2	= 8 1/2" / 21.5cm
4 =	3 1/2	= 8 13/16" / 22.5cm
5 =	4 1/2	= 9 1/8" / 23cm
6 =	5 1/2	= 91/2" / 24cm
7 =	6 1/2	= 913/16" / 25cm

Alternatively contact Karina Swann; Manager: SACIN for further enquires.

These guides to boys and girls clothing and shoe sizes are just that - guides. They are for general information purposes and should not be relied on as being completely accurate.

When shopping for children's clothes and shoes online around the world, you must be aware that manufacturers can have their own size variations, which could differ substantially from the charts displayed here

Kiddieswear.com recommends that you accurately measure the child, and compare those measurements to the size charts offered by the retailer from which you are making your purchase.

A few more golden rules to remember:

PLEASE NOTE!
PLEASE CLEARLY MARK ALL PARCELS WITH THE NAME / SURNAME OF THE CHILD, THE COMMUNITY IN WHICH THEY LIVE AS WELL AS YOUR NAME AND SURNAME.

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"Can the child I support be taken off the progamme?"

Unfortunately, YES. Children who qualify to be part of the SACIN Programme have to adhere to strict selection criteria. This means that children can also be taken out of the SACIN Programme, because of the following reasons:

1. Children are below 18 and dropped out of school – i.e. they refuse to go to school anymore;
2. Children have completed their schooling – i.e. passed Grade 12;
3. Children have moved outside the designated area where Heartbeat works. In most cases children were re-united with family in other parts of the country;
4. The child has passed away;
5. In cases where Heartbeat has lobbied for the child to be placed in Foster Care with a relative (usually a granny), Heartbeat will keep the child on the SACIN programme, but NO Material Goods will be bought for the child after receiving a foster grant. The administrator of the grant will be asked to pay for these goods with the grant money and Heartbeat will use your contribution designated for Material Support in the other 5 service groups.

If the child that you support is taken out of the programme, you will be notified and given the appropriate reason as to why this has happened. You will be contacted by Heartbeat and you will have 2 options:

a) You can continue to sponsor a new child assigned to you by Heartbeat, or
b) You can terminate your sponsorship.

If you choose option (a) (i.e. continuing with your sponsorship), a new child will be assigned to you and any remaining funds in the account of the “old” child, will be transferred to the “new” child’s account. You will then also from that day, receive correspondence and reports regarding your “new” child.

If you choose option (b), Heartbeat would thank you for your support and will not correspond with you again.

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"How do I stop my contribution towards the SACIN programme?"

• Heartbeat has NO access to your bank account, so you need to cancel your contribution with your bank yourself.
• If you are sponsoring a child, and would like to terminate your contribution, please contact Heartbeat immediately.
• We ask that you please give us at least 2 months written notice, in order to give us sufficient time to find a replacement sponsorship for the child.
• We also ask that you please commit to this sponsorship for a minimum period of 1 year.
• Please remember to inform Karina Swann via Email (karina@heartbeat.org.za) or Fax (+27 12 346 3090) 2 months before your last payment will be made.

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"And if I want to know more?"

Heartbeat would be happy to answer any additional questions you might have. The SACIN Management Team consists of:

• For Financial Enquiries regarding your sponsorship, please contact
  SACIN MANAGER:
  KARINA SWANN (karina@heartbeat.org.za)
  OR
  FINANCE MANAGER:
  CINDY VERMAAK cindy@heartbeat.org.za)
  
  
• You can direct all correspondence regarding SACIN to Heartbeat to:
  Telephone: +27 (0) 12 460 2345
  Fax: +27 (0) 12 346 3090
  Postal:
  SACIN PROGRAMME
  HEARTBEAT
  PO BOX 72294
  Lynnwood Ridge
  Pretoria
  RSA          
  0040
  
  
• You can also courier your gifts and presents directly to our Head Office in Pretoria:
  Ground Floor Block B, Waterkloof Park, 469 Julius Jeppe Street, Waterkloof, Pretoria, 0181 South Africa

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN THE HEARTBEAT SACIN PROGRAMME.