Supporting CHAPS to provide free quality healthcare to underserved communities
Jacaranda FM's Good Morning Angels donated R120 000 to help CHAPS continue providing free healthcare to underserved communities in Johannesburg.
"Quality healthcare. No cost. No judgement." That’s the promise the Centre for HIV-AIDS Prevention Studies, or CHAPS, makes to people in Berea, Yeoville and Hillbrow every Friday.
CHAPS provides free healthcare for people living with HIV, diabetes, hypertension, asthma and other chronic illnesses.
“Every Friday, our clinic opens its doors with one simple promise: no one who walks through them will be turned away because they are poor,” says Danielle Simpson-Cupido, CEO of CHAPS.
“We care for mothers who skip their own treatment so they can feed their children. We care for elderly patients who have to choose between buying medication or buying food.”
CHAPS also provides family planning services and, when available, food to people in need.
The doctors give their time and care for free, and CHAPS depends entirely on donations to provide healthcare to people who have nowhere else to go.
That’s why Danielle wrote to Good Morning Angels, asking for help “to continue changing lives through free healthcare, compassionate care, and practical support for some of Johannesburg’s most vulnerable individuals and families”.
If you would like to get involved and volunteer at CHAPS, email [email protected].
For more information or to make a donation, visit chaps.org.za.
REQUEST FOR: Danielle Simpson-Cupido, representing the Centre for HIV-AIDS Prevention Studies, or CHAPS, in Johannesburg
ANGEL: The Good Morning Angels Fund NPC
SPONSORING: The Good Morning Angels Fund will assist CHAPS in continuing to provide its vital services to the community with a donation of R120 000 towards the necessities required to run its Free Friday clinic.
ORIGINAL REQUEST:
Dear Good Morning Angels Team,
I hope this email finds you well.
My name is Danielle Simpson-Cupido, and I am writing on behalf of the Centre for HIV-AIDS Prevention Studies (CHAPS), a registered non-profit organisation that operates a Free Primary Health Care Clinic in Johannesburg.
Every Friday, our clinic opens its doors to anyone in need of healthcare, regardless of their ability to pay. We believe that no one should be denied quality healthcare because of poverty, and we proudly live by our promise of “Quality healthcare. No cost. No judgement.”
After following the incredible impact that Good Morning Angels has had on so many lives across South Africa, we would like to humbly ask you to consider supporting the work we do for some of Johannesburg’s most vulnerable individuals and families.
CHAPS is seeking financial assistance to help keep the doors of our Free Primary Health Care Clinic open. Your support will allow us to continue changing lives through free healthcare, compassionate care and practical support for some of Johannesburg’s most vulnerable individuals and families.
Every Friday, our clinic provides free healthcare to people who cannot afford private healthcare and who often struggle to access public services. We never charge our patients, and we never turn anyone away because of their financial circumstances. Your support would ensure that we can continue providing quality healthcare, dignity and hope to those who need it most.
Our need:
Every week, we witness the reality that healthcare and poverty cannot be separated.
We care for mothers who skip their own treatment so they can feed their children. We care for elderly patients who have to choose between buying medication or buying food. We care for people living with HIV, diabetes, hypertension, asthma and other chronic illnesses who simply have nowhere else to go. Our patients know that when they arrive at CHAPS, they will receive quality healthcare without judgement and without being asked whether they can afford to pay.
Our Free Primary Health Care Clinic is located in Houghton Estate, on the doorstep of Berea, Yeoville and Hillbrow, communities where many vulnerable individuals and families face significant barriers to accessing healthcare. Every Friday, our clinic opens its doors with one simple promise: no one who walks through them will be turned away because they are poor.
One young mother of three came to our clinic unemployed, overwhelmed and uncertain about her future. Along with healthcare, we were able to provide family planning services, health education and practical support through food. We also ensured that all three of her children received their routine immunisations, giving them the healthy start that every child deserves. That care gave her the knowledge and confidence to take control of her health and create a better future for her family.
We regularly meet people living with HIV who have fallen out of care. Many arrive believing they have failed and that, because they stopped taking their medication, they will be judged or turned away. Instead, they find compassion. We help them understand that it is never too late to return to treatment. We provide medical care, counselling and support to reconnect them with life-saving HIV services. Watching someone leave our clinic with renewed hope, knowing they are back on the path to good health, reminds us why our work matters. These are not isolated stories. They represent the reality we see every Friday.
We cannot solve unemployment, homelessness or poverty on our own. But we can ensure that people are not denied healthcare because they are poor. We can make sure a child receives life-saving immunisations, a mother can make informed decisions about her health, a grandmother receives her blood pressure medication, someone living with HIV receives care without stigma, and a person sleeping on the streets is treated with the same dignity as anyone else.
The people who come through our doors have already faced enough rejection. We never want to be the place that has to say, “We’re sorry, we can’t help you today.” Every donation allows us to continue saying “yes” when someone walks through our doors needing help.
We hope Good Morning Angels will help us continue keeping our promise: Quality healthcare. No cost. No judgement.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story and for the incredible work you do in bringing hope to South Africans every day. Whether or not our request is successful, we appreciate the opportunity to share the work of CHAPS and the lives that are changed through the kindness of others.
We would be honoured to welcome the Good Morning Angels team to our clinic so that you can meet our patients and see firsthand the difference your support could make.
Kind regards,
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