Please Help Save Our Sanctuary

Founded in 1955 and situated in Cottesloe, Johannesburg, Woodside Sanctuary is a registered PBO and NPO. The sanctuary is licenced under the Mental Health Care Act, No. 17 of 2002, to provide full-time residential and day care services to individuals with severe to profound intellectual and physical disabilities. There are currently 84 people living at Woodside Sanctuary, aged between 3 and over 67, who require lifelong specialised care.

After 68 years of service to the profoundly disabled, Woodside’s doors face imminent closure. Our savings have run dry, and donations have all but ground to a halt. For Woodside Sanctuary and especially those in our care, there could be nothing more devastating than our doors closing. For many of our residents, this is the only home they have ever known, and for all, Woodside is a place of safety, security, love, understanding, and assured dignity.

If Woodside’s doors close, our residents would be relocated to institutions that face issues like overcrowding and bureaucratic inefficiencies, and we know that many of Woodside’s residents would simply not survive the trauma of relocation. Lifelong care for individuals with profound intellectual disabilities requires round-the-clock support in compliant facilities from trained professionals in order to meet their complex needs.

South Africa is a resilient country that has faced so much turbulence and uncertainty, and now this Sanctuary faces similar devastating uncertainty and imminent closure. These residents need a lifeline; they need a secure future, knowing that they have a familiar, safe place to call their home.

Woodside has never been in a more desperate situation than we are right now, and we have no other choice but to reach out to everyone who we are able to and beg on our knees for your assistance to keep our special home open. We need your help and implore you to let your voice be heard in support of some of the most vulnerable and marginalised in our society. No contribution is too small, and every donation received can make all the difference in keeping our doors open.

Please visit Woodside’s website and our social pages for more information.