Staff at Mitchell’s Plain Community Advice and Development Project, commonly known as the advice office in Eastridge bid farewell to their co-ordinator, community activist Willie Simmers, whom they fondly called Uncle Willie.
They hosted a retirement party for him at Portland Indoor Sports Centre on Friday September 24.
Former staff member Jo-Ann Muller, who had worked with Mr Simmers, said she learned and saw how to work with the community.
“He taught us that family is everything, that nothing was more important than family.
“He was always on time… in fact he was among the first to arrive for today’s event,” she said.
“He empowered us and encouraged us to do better for ourselves and for the community.”
The advice office has always been at the forefront of the struggles, including those of people facing evictions and domestic violence and also provides paralegal support to the Mitchell’s Plain community (“Praise for Uncle Willie’s service to ‘Plain community”, Plainsman, August 25).
