DHL Stormers bring smiles to Tygerberg Hospital
On Wednesday, the DHL Stormers players visited Tygerberg Hospital to visit children who have benefitted from the life-changing corrective surgery provided by the Smile Foundation.
Through the Vodacom Tries for Smiles campaign, the Vodacom Foundation donates R3 000 for every try scored by a South African team in this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby competition to the Smile Foundation. The funds raised through the Vodacom Tries for Smiles campaign help the Smile Foundation to perform corrective surgery on children born with facial deformities.
Young Haygen Fortuin can smile for the first time in his young life thanks to the efforts of these and other South African Vodacom Super Rugby players.
And the first smile the DHL Stormers have helped to give Fortuin will last a while, because the team invited him to attend their Captain’s Practice before their Vodacom Super Rugby match against the Rebels at DHL Newlands on Friday 27 April.
Additionally, the DHL Stormers title sponsors, DHL, matched Vodacom’s R12 000 donation for the four tries scored in their winning clash against the Rebels on the 27th of April as a contribution towards Haygen’s recovery.
Hennie Heymans, CEO at DHL Express Sub Saharan Africa said: “I had the great pleasure of meeting young Haygen at DHL Newlands this past weekend. The Tries for Smiles initiative is a fantastic cause and we’re very pleased to play our part in it. A special mention to the DHL Stormers on their stellar performance and four tries, which drove the donation value.”
It’s a moment certainly not lost on DHL Stormers captain Siya Kolisi.
“As sportsmen we can be the trailblazers when it comes to enabling a better world for our future generations,” he said.
The DHL Stormers Faithful will tell you, “We stand together”. On their day off on Wednesday, the DHL Stormers team walked into Tygerberg Hospital to stand together beside the beds of young children giving hope for a better future.
It was a moment for them to pause. In the rush of training, the pressure to win games, the race to Vodacom Super Rugby glory, this was a time for them to stop and consider that a hero can also be a child who, for the first time in their life, will be able to smile as one of The Faithful.
