Pres Les Cares

Pres Les has been committed to empowering women since its foundation in 1971. Core to the company's philosophy is an ethos of caring. Pres Les believes in sharing its success, and annually distributes a percentage of profits through charitable contributions and local community development projects.

"The needs of our country are daunting," says Les Ruhrmund, Pres Les CEO, but in the words of Blessed Mother Theresa: "If you can't feed 100 people then just feed one." In the last financial year, Pres Les was privileged to be able to make donations of over R1 000 000.

Pres Les encourages its consultants to dream, believe and achieve. This philosophy also applies when it comes to the organisations that Pres Les supports. Through its charitable donations, Pres Les recognises that it has a responsibility to support and enrich the communities where its employees live and work, within the greater Cape Town metropole.

Community Development

2.1 Health Care Support
Pres Les believes in organisations that serve the most vulnerable and neglected members of society, and provides both cash and product donations to centres that care for children, the elderly, the dying and the disabled. Such centres include Beaconvale Community Frail Care, St. Luke's Hospice, and the Christine Revell Children's Home.

Nazareth House
An organisation particularly close to the heart of Pres Les is Nazareth House, Cape Town. This charity was founded in 1880 by a group of Irish sisters, with a charge to care for the orphaned and abandoned children. Today, Nazareth House provides a home for the frail elderly, a hospice, children's home, and a place of safety for babies and children.

Home for the Frail Elderly
"At Nazareth House, our primary aim is to ensure the best quality of life for our senior residents by rendering quality services to meet the physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs of all residents who are aged, mentally and physically challenged, sick or frail. We strive to do this with compassion, dignity and respect."
Sister Gladys and Sister Shirley Mclver

Hospice
"St Michael’s Hospice was established in response to the devastating impact of the HIV pandemic, especially on the destitute, homeless and the most marginalized members of Cape Town communities who have no access to palliative care. Hospice care provides compassionate and dedicated 24-hour care for people in the last phases of terminal illness, so that they may live as fully and comfortably as possible."
Sister Lizette Robbins

Children's Home
In 2008, 66 vulnerable little ones were offered a place of safety at the Nazareth House Children's Home. In the adjoining cottage, mentally disabled older girls are provided a home for life, where they receive the permanent care and attention they need.

Pres Les strongly supports Nazareth House through significant product and cash donations, in addition to management time and expertise, with Les Ruhrmund acting as the Chairman of the Board and Keith Brodovcky acting as Treasurer. Product donations of curtains and bed linens have enabled the Nazareth House to furnish their new cottages with certain bed linens being specially made to fit the toddler-sized beds. The cash donations have contributed towards the enormous running costs faced by Nazareth House each year.

"We were thrilled when we saw the linens. They were wonderful and they all fit so well. We are really very, very grateful for that."
Sister Margaret

"Les and Keith are so supportive and involved. We feel like we are working as a team and as Les and Keith come from a very strong faith-based background, they share our care and concern for others and there is always great compassion and understanding. Les and Keith have also been so attentive and supportive while assisting in the operational management of the facility."
Sister Margaret

"We are very, very grateful. Pres Les is really a wonderful support to us, and not just in donations of money or kind. They offer really caring and compassionate moral support."
Sister Margaret

2.2 Primary Health Care Centres

Pres Les also supports primary health care centres such as the Tygerberg Hospital, Groote Schuur Hospital and Somerset Hospital, to which it makes large cash donations each year. The Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital received
R155 000 in the last financial year.

The Red Cross Children's Hospital is the only specialist hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa dedicated entirely to children. They devote every day to saving lives and through their work, have ensured a future to countless chronically sick children, most of whom are from disadvantaged communities throughout the sub-continent. With the help of Pres Les and their many other donors, the Red Cross Children's Hospital was able to construct a new state-of-the-art facility equipped with eight operating theatres, which opened its doors on 16 September 2009.

For the first time since the hospital was built in 1956, each operating theatre is designed to and equipped for a particular sub-speciality. Three of these theatres are also fully digitized, the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa, and contains technology that is on par with global standards. These facilities will result in greater efficiency and improved outcomes for the more than 700 patients undergoing surgery every month.

"A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child."
Knights of Pythagoras

Alive Cetywayo
Little Alive Cetywayo was just 2 months old when he was admitted to the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital with severe gastroenteritis. Within days he had been stabilized but had developed complications due to a loop of bowel that had been trapped within a hernia. He was rushed into theatre where surgeons performed an emergency procedure repairing the hernia that had caused the initial obstruction. The operation was a success and Alive is well and home with his young mom.

Thembeka Rolinyathi
Baby Thembeka Rolinyathi was born prematurely at just 34 weeks with a complication in his bowel. Little Thembeka had his first operation at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital when he was just 3 days old and underwent more surgery shortly thereafter when surgeons removed large pieces of his colon that were infected. After months in hospital baby Thembeka and his family were happy to have him return home healthy. Unfortunately he had to return to the Hospital soon after he was discharged as he had developed gastroenteritis. After further treatment his doctors are happy that he’s progressing well and has started putting on some weight.

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