Young beauty queen’s caring side

Cape Town. 160426. Keegan Lee from Hanover park, Miss SA jnr delivers socks to Sarah Fox home. She used her pocket money to buy wool for her gran who made socks. pic PHANDO JIKELO

Cape Town. 160426. Keegan Lee from Hanover park, Miss SA jnr delivers socks to Sarah Fox home. She used her pocket money to buy wool for her gran who made socks. pic PHANDO JIKELO

Published Apr 26, 2016

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Nicolette Dirk

MISS Petite South Africa’s 2016 second princess, Keegan-Lee Croy, showed that her beauty is more than skin deep.

The nine-year-old from Hanover Park reeled in family members to help knit 80 pairs of bed socks for ill children.

Children from the Sarah Fox Children’s Hospital Paediatric Palliative in Athlone and the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Mowbray were surprised with a warm gift of bed socks.

Keegan-Lee and her grandmother, Daphne Croy, handed them over yesterday..

The young beauty queen said it feels so good being able to give to other children she wanted to cry.

“I feel proud of myself that I could help them. It was also nice to play with the children at Red Cross Hospital. At Sarah Fox home, I visited some of the babies,” said Keegan-Lee.

Since March, Keegan-Lee has used her weekly pocket money of R10 to buy wool for her bed sock project.

The rest she collected from neighbours and family friends. She then asked family friend Denise Johnsen, 54, who lives in the area, to knit the bed socks for children in need.

Before yesterday’s donations Keegan and her grandmother had already donated some of the bed socks to needy children in their area.

But this is not the first time the St Raphael’s Primary School pupil has opened her heart to others.

In 2014, she donated her old toys to the Red Cross .

“I know how it feels for children who can’t afford toys. Some of my friends don’t have parents.

“They tell me they feel sad when they see other children playing with toys,” said Keegan-Lee.

Croy said she has always been involved with community projects.

When her son was killed during a gang-related incident six years ago, it spurred her to become involved in community projects in her area.

Croy and her grand-daughter are both involved with Hanover Park’s Youth at Risk programme.

After the success of her bed sock programme, Keegan-Lee plans to expand her project to keep more children warm this winter.

“Some children don’t have anything to eat where I live. I’m going to ask Ma Denise to knit blankets and caps for them so that at least they can be warm,” she said.

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