The airports management company Airports Company South Africa (Acsa), has announced that its Cape Town International Airport has already donated just under R1-million towards corporate social responsibility (CSI) for the 2007/8 financial year.

This money has been donated to a number of organisations with the aim of improving the lives of the impoverished people living in the airports' surrounding areas.

In addition, for the past few years Acsa has been donating wheelchairs to physically challenged people as part of realising its business aspiration of ‘moving people - changing lives'.

Already, 1 000 wheelchairs have been donated, in phases, to communities since late last year.

Astra School for the physically disabled was the recipient of 41 wheelchairs in March, with a further twenty having been donated to other organisations such as Tygerberg Hospital and Vista Nova School among others, bringing the total quantity of wheelchairs donated by Acsa Cape Town to just over 60.

"We want the general public to know that Acsa is concerned about those for whom mobility is a daily challenge. To this end, we donate a thousand wheelchairs every year to the disabled to help them with mobility and ease of access to various amenities at our airports and everywhere else," says Cape Town International Airport communications manager Deidre Hendricks.

Astra school serves about 300 children from the suburb of Montana, which is situated close to the airport.

The school says that this donation will make a deep impact in the daily lives of its learners, especially in improving their mobility in and around the school and home environments.

Acsa believes that the learners will benefit substantially from this donation not only this year but for many years to come.

"Our vision in respect of corporate social responsibility is to empower and sustain South African communities while making a vital contribution to the South African economy by facilitating tourism and travel," adds Hendricks.

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