Last month we looked at why we need a car seat and how Supa Quick has linked up with Wheel Well so that you can drop off your old car seats at any branch and they will be given to those in need. I couldn’t help be curious to find out more about how Wheel Well came into being and a bit more about the lady who takes our discarded seats and gives them to those in need. So let’s meet Peggie and find out more about her and where those car seats go.
- Tell us a bit about yourself – do you have a family? What kind of work were you doing before Wheel Well?
I grew up as a free-range kid in the rural community of Klapmuts, just outside Paarl, WC. I attended Paarl Gymnasium Primary and Secondary School before graduating from Paarl Teacher’s College with a Teacher’s Diploma. I spent a further year at Cape Town Teacher’s College specialising in Art.
I moved up to Gauteng in 1988 in search of adventure and found my 3 daughters instead. After the death of my middle daughter and escaping a dysfunctional marriage, I spent the next few years as a single mom, raising my daughters and making ends meet. Soon after I found my Forever Person, I lost my job due to a back injury. It was at the confluence of all these events that I found my passion and niche – road safety with a focus on children. When everything you have done and experienced in life seems to have been in preparation for a job at hand, you know you are on the right track. It is as if my life was an incubation period towards what I have to do.
- How did Wheel Well get started? Was there any event that happened that inspired you to do this?
A colleague that I was talking with regards to upskilling low literate unemployed did a similar campaign in Cape Town in December 2011. She had a huge response from Gauteng. She needed somebody to run with it for a bit. I put up my hand and when I started reading up on car seats and high death tolls of our children on our roads, I was hooked. As soon as I went public to get donated seats, the response was overwhelming, both in seats donated and from companies who want to get involved and help us. This and the fact that I have lost a child made it impossible for me to walk away.
- Could you tell us any stories about the people you’ve given the car seats to?
There are so many stories that I can tell. Look at my attached letter. Foster parents who received their baby much sooner than expected and needed a car seat, a child with a congenital heart defect who was just released from hospital after many months needed a car seat for her first trip home, kids with cerebral palsy and the parents just cannot afford the car seat, a man in a beautifully tailored suit, he has just lost his job and his wife walked out on him. He needed a seat to visit with his daughter. Grandparents whose children has immigrated and their grandchildren come visiting once a year and they need a seat for a few weeks. That young man from Vosloorust that earns a good salary, but he is looking after his own parents who is on government pensions and nieces who lost their parents to HIV/Aids.
- Where do you normally distribute them?
We normally distribute the seats from our showroom. Here we can assist parents in the correct selection of a seat, show them how to adjust the seat and how to install it in their car. At every opportunity we get, we go to shopping centres in the suburbs to reach parents that have not heard of us. Again, we help the choose, show them how to adjust their seat and how to install them. We also do car seat campaigns on major routes during the holidays to assist parents on their way to their holiday destinations. We have done this on the N1 North and N3 towards Durban.
- Can you take us through the process of what you do to the old car seat before it is given away again?
The first step is to select the seats we can use. The seats we cannot use due to damage, incompleteness or they are simply too old, are recycled.
Then we strip the seat completely. We stain treat the covers, harnesses and buckles and they get washed in the washing machine. The seat bodies also get a thorough wash to remove all the icky bits that have settled into the nooks and crannies of the seat. Once everything is dry, we re-assemble the seat correctly.
If we find anything during the cleaning process that would disqualify the seat, like crash damage, it also gets recycled. Only the seats that work properly and that can keep a child safe are put forward. Our criteria are if we would be happy to put our child in that seat, it is good to go.
Once a parent selects a suitable seat, they will be shown how to use the seat, how to install it and when to return for the next seat up.
- What has been your most rewarding experience doing this kind of work?
This is difficult to answer because there are so many experiences. Every child safe and happy in a car seat is wonderful. Every grateful parent who thanks us from the bottom of their hearts is fantastic. Every seat donated gets us excited, even after all these years! Every dirty sad car seat that cleans up beautifully brings a song to our hearts. Every sponsorship we receive is the wind beneath our wings. If I could pick a moment it would be when we received the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award in 2016. Shaking hands with him at the Savoy Hotel in London is a moment that will stay with me forever.
- What kind of response have you been getting from Supa Quick’s charity drive? How has the experience been?
The response to the Supa Quick collection drive has been amazing. The seats just keep on arriving and it is just wonderful. The seats donated are also of such good quality, we can use most of them. For the first time in many years we have a wide selection of seats and we can go to a Mall again with the campaign and meet new parents who have not heard about us yet. This Christmas Holidays there will be so many children traveling safely again because of a seat donated to the campaign.
- Anything else you’d like to share with us?
Car Seat usage is still exceptionally low in South Africa. This is because parents cannot afford car seats, or they have not been sensitised to importance of them. The support through Supa Quick addresses both issues and for that we are deeply grateful. On our own we cannot possibly reach parents in the numbers we have to, but with the platform Supa Quick has given us, it is now possible. That is the wind beneath our wings.
You can’t save every child on our roads. But you can make a difference with your old car seat for just one child. Find your nearest Supa Quick and drop your old one off.
To see your closest Supa Quick go here: https://www.supaquick.com/tyre-dealers-fitment-centres
To find out more about Wheel Well go here: https://www.wheelwell.org.za/
Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Supa Quick.
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