Summer 2025 Overview
Adopt a South African Preschool (ASAP) creates Libraries of Educational Toys in impoverished communities so children can learn through play.
Our Mission:
Adopt a South African Preschool (ASAP) creates Libraries of Educational Toys in impoverished communities so children can learn through play.
Most South African children languish without stimulation in overcrowded, informal daycares. At each toy library, Early Childhood Coaches from our partner “PEN” provide curriculum training and mentoring visits for 30 daycares.
Now children can play and learn as daycare owners borrow educational toys, become teachers, and turn their settings into preschools. Everyone thrives!
Why Our Mission Matters:
~First grade predicts success. 90% of brain develop happens (or not) by age 5.
~ 80% of South African fourth graders do not understand what they read.
~40% of fourth graders cannot read at all.
ASAP donors have funded 8 Toy Library-Training Centers serving:
227 preschools and over 1,098 women and 11,487 children!
Donors uplift children, women, and communities!
Giving a child a future helps end the generational poverty cycle.
Mandela Day 2025
Honoring Nelson Mandela’s Birthday and Legacy at United Christian Church of Levittown (8525 New Falls Rd, Levittown, PA 19054) on July 20, 2025. Participants include Dr. Kevin Dean, Presbyterian, Verse Choir from Princeton Witherspoon Presbyterian Church, and Dr. Nico de Klerk.
Spring 2025 Overview of ASAP
Adopt a South African Preschool (ASAP) creates Libraries of Educational Toys in impoverished communities so children can learn through play.
Our Mission:
Adopt a South African Preschool (ASAP) creates Libraries of Educational Toys in impoverished communities so children can learn through play.
Most South African children languish without stimulation in overcrowded, informal daycares. At each toy library, Early Childhood Coaches from our partner “PEN” provide curriculum training and mentoring visits for 30 daycares.
Now children can thrive as daycare owners borrow educational toys, learn to teach, and gradually turn their settings into preschools. Everyone grows!
Why Our Mission Matters:
First grade predicts success. 90% of the brain develops (or not) by age 5.
80% of South African fourth graders do not understand what they read.
40% of fourth graders cannot read at all.
ASAP donors have funded 8 Toy Library-Training Centers serving:
225 preschools and over 1,000 women and 11,000 children!!!!!
Donors uplift children, women, and communities!
Giving a child a future stops the generational poverty cycle.
February 14, 2025 Thankful Thursdays!
Happy Birthday! ASAP was conceived by Marlese and Malan Nel, and Nancy Schongalla. At a party last weekend, they made wishes for ASAP's next 5 years, and for Malan's 80-something birthday!
ASAP Overview Winter 2025
Adopt a South African Preschool (ASAP) funds Educational Toy Library Training Centers, so that vulnerable children gain the foundation for school success.
Adopt a South African Preschool (ASAP) funds Educational Toy Library Training Centers, for vulnerable children to gain the foundation for school success. Essential life skills develop in safe, caring, and stimulating settings where children learn through play. Sadly, countless South African children languish in overcrowded, under-resourced daycares.
Daycare owners in struggling communities are untrained entrepreneurs who offer low-cost childcare to feed their own families. ASAP and our nonprofit partner PEN (Participate, Envision, Navigate) establish Preschool Support Centers with Toy Libraries within walking distance of 30 informal daycares. At weekly curriculum sessions and mentoring visits owners learn how the toys, games, and resources they borrow stimulate development. They gain skills as teachers and businesswomen. Their centers begin to function as preschools.
In four years, ASAP donors funded 8 Toy Library-Training Centers serving:
225 preschools, over 1,000 women and 11,000 children!
Why Our Mission Matters:
First grade predicts life success. 90% of brain development happens (or not) by age 5.
25% of South African 5-year-olds have physical and cognitive stunting due to malnutrition.
80% 4th graders do not understand what they read; 40% cannot read at all.
ASAP/PEN’s simple model uplifts children, women, and communities.
Donors are addressing generational poverty.
December 19th, 2024 - Thankful Thursdays!
Participating in a tour of 2 toy libraries and 4 preschools were the new South Africa ASAP board, University of Pretoria professors and graduate students, and preschool coaches from our nonprofit partner PEN.
December 5, 2024 - Thankful Thursdays!
In this season of gratitude and thanksgiving, ASAP extends heartfelt appreciation to each and every one of you. Your contributions, whether through writing a check or clicking thedonate button, undergo a remarkable journey through six sets of hands before transforming into educational toys.
Thankful Thursday Newsletter, June 2024
Adopt a South African Preschool (ASAP) funds Educational Toy Library Training Centers, so that vulnerable children gain the foundation for school success.
Links from Thankful Thursday June 27th, 2024 Newsletter above are:
Thankful Thursdays: Driving Change in 2024
Our journey to alleviate poverty takes more than just dedication and resources; it takes a village, and you are a crucial part of that.
Thankful Thursdays: Empowerment for a Brighter Future
In this last Thankful Thursday email of 2023, I want to share a little of what I am learning about South Africa’s strengths, challenges, and the hope of renewal.
Thankful Thursdays: The Magic of Toys
Toys, games, puzzles, blocks... these simple joys of childhood are now in the eager hands of 9,000 disadvantaged South African children, thanks to your generous support.
Thankful Thursdays Is Back for December!
Thankful Thursdays is back! Each Thursday in December I will share photos from 3 productive enlivening weeks in South Africa.
Thankful Thursdays - 70th Birthday CAR Campaign
Last May 18th I celebrated my most memorable birthday ever with Marlese Nel, our ASAP coordinator in South Africa. For three days, we visited ASAP’s educational toy libraries and 6 of the 130 preschools we support.
70th Birthday Campaign!
Help Nancy, Marlese, ASAP and PEN buy a birthday car!
Last May 18th I celebrated my most memorable birthday ever with Marlese Nel, our ASAP coordinator in South Africa. For three days, we visited ASAP’s educational toy libraries and 6 of the 130 preschools we support. We got to know the early childhood development coaches and staff of our partner nonprofit PEN and joined a curriculum training session (see video below) with preschool owners preparing for next their week’s lesson. What a thrill to experience the tangible difference ASAP donors are making for children and women whose lives have been limited by their zipcodes.
As Mystery would have it, Marlese and I were both born in 1953, less than 24 hours apart, on different continents! For our 70th birthday we would like a car—not a Porsche, nor a car we will own or drive ourselves. We want a car for 7 passengers, with removable seats, and high clearance for deep potholes and rough roads. Will you help PEN get a car like the one below which was donated by a tile company? The double-wide trailer was also donated by Itatile and outfitted by ASAP in 2021 with educational toys, games, books, and tables and chairs for weekly and monthly trainings.
A second reliable vehicle with branding on its doors is desperately needed to avoid car jackings or breakdowns. The coaches travel into dangerous inner-city areas and isolated rural areas making weekly visits from PEN’s central office in Pretoria to the ASAP resource hubs and to the 10 schools under their wings. They can’t use public transportation to get balance beams and other large equipment to the preschools.
Marlese and I invite you to celebrate this BIG, 70th birthday with us and with the coaches above, by making a donation of any amount which includes the # 7, e.g. $7, $17, $27, $77, $107, $777 …
Please scroll back up and click DONATE. (EIN# 87-263089)
All ASAP contributions are gifts that keep on giving.
We cannot thank you enough for uplifting lives and making our birthdays extra special!
Thankful Thursday Birthday- Valentines Day Newsletter
We hope 2023 is off to a great start and that Valentine’s Day brings much gratitude for your loved ones wherever they are in this world, or beyond.
Dear Friend,
We hope 2023 is off to a great start and that Valentine’s Day brings much gratitude for your loved ones wherever they are in this world, or beyond.
In South Africa, there is much gratitude for YOU! You have profoundly touched 6,000+ hearts and lives of children and women since ASAP’s birth three years ago today. ASAP is now a precocious nonprofit, quickly growing beyond the toddler stage, and challenging its founder to keep up!
Thanks to YOU, last week our South Africa ASAP team delivered toys, books and resources to our 6th Educational Toy Library Training Center to support the first 10 daycares registered to become ASAP-PEN preschools in Soweto.
Please scroll down to our "Thankful Thursday" newsletter, and do watch for the March newsletter with photos of our new Soweto center. Together with South Africans, we are loosening the grip of generational poverty caused by apartheid.
With warmest regards,
Nancy, the ASAP Teams in the U.S. and S.A., and our partner nonprofit PEN
P.S. Follow us on Instagram (once we fix a glitch) and watch our new video:
Thankful Thursdays - Preschool Graduations
Preschool graduations in December are big in South Africa, perhaps especially in low-income communities where many parents cannot read themselves. It is a proud and festive time for graduates, their parents, and teachers.
Dear Friend,
Preschool graduations in December are big in South Africa, perhaps especially in low-income communities where many parents cannot read themselves. It is a proud and festive time for graduates, their parents, and teachers.
Marlese, our ASAP coordinator in SA explains, “It is that ONE time your child gets to celebrate whatever growth and development he/she has achieved, before moving on to the next daunting phase of schooling. That one tangible moment for the parents to see and celebrate something of their hopes, dreams, and prayers.
The money made available by generous ASAP donors makes this day of celebration possible – NOT by giving funds for the robes and the concerts but making it possible for the children to receive a solid foundation through the toy libraries, before having to go to primary school.” Amen and THANK YOU!
This 1-minute video is guaranteed to bring a smile! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z9G-q119sVdKJlr2NocRRprNlj4cEziV/view?usp=share_link
You can read the story behind this video: https://www.adoptasouthafricanpreschool.org/
YOU are giving marginalized children a bright future, TODAY. May your Christmas, holiday season, and 2023 be warm and bright!
Nancy and the ASAP Team
P.S. Please check out our new video: The A,B,C's of Adopt a South African Preschool and watch for periodic Thankful Thursday updates in the new year. Thank you!!!
Thankful Thursdays - PEN’s ECD Coaches Make It All Work!
Today’s December 15th newsletter focuses on the coaches of our partner nonprofit PEN whose goal is “to see a South Africa where every child is able to thrive through access to quality early childhood development.”
Dear Friend,
Today’s December 15th newsletter focuses on the coaches of our partner nonprofit PEN whose goal is “to see a South Africa where every child is able to thrive through access to quality early childhood development.”
PEN’s mission of enabling daycares to become preschools began 12 years ago when Belinah, a daycare owner, knocked on the door of PEN’s preschool and asked to be trained in early childhood development. She is now PEN’s head coach.
Enjoy our new video: The A,B,C's of Adopt a South African Preschool!
Nancy and the ASAP Team
P.S. Watch for next week’s Thankful Thursday email about the graduations as 5-6 year olds move on to public school in January.
P.P.S. You can read about Belinah in the STORY section of our website, and the TAKE ACTION tab shows how to support our end of 2022 campaign! Many of you have already done so. Thank you so much!!!
Thankful Thursdays - Preschool Sets the Stage for Success
As you know, the focus of ASAP is the children, (as you see in this newsletter.) Many have never played with educational toys, or ANY toys, until now.
Dear Friend,
As you know, the focus of ASAP is the children, as you see in this newsletter. Many have never played with educational toys, or ANY toys, until now.
Toys, games, puzzles, dolls, books, musical and athletic equipment develop:
-Small and large motor skills, physical strength, hand-eye coordination
-Creativity, problem solving, persistence
-Social skills, love of learning, confidence, working together
-Memory, attention, following directions
-Recognition of colors, numbers, letters, shapes
Had you and I not learned through play, we might be like 80% of South African 4th graders who cannot understand what they read, and sadly never catch up.
Please enjoy our new video: The A,B,C's of Adopt a South African Preschool!
“Thankful Thursday” emails further acquaint you with ASAP and our end of 2022 campaign. If you have donated already, thank you so very much! An official thanks will come soon. If not, please learn more at “Take Action” on our website: https://www.adoptasouthafricanpreschool.org/
Nancy and the ASAP Team
ASAP’s First Newsletter and Our End of Year Campaign
This first newsletter focuses on the preschool owners who are no longer just babysitting, but loving being now able to access resources and the training to actually teach the children in their care. Next newsletters will focus on the children and on the coaches. We hope you will join our end of the year campaign to raise funds to expand our network of coaches and educational resources to reach its capacity of 180 preschools (we are at 121 now).
Dear Friend,
I hope your last Thursday was indeed one of Thanksgiving for all the blessings of that day and all that gives you joy in your life. Women and children in South Africa, and the Adopt a South African Preschool and PEN Forum (in South Africa) want to remind you of our deep gratitude for your support.
We also want to send a few "Thankful Thursdays" emails to better acquaint you with who is benefitting from your donations and how we are fulfilling our mission of preparing at-risk preschoolers to succeed in school and in life.
This first newsletter focuses on the preschool owners who are no longer just babysitting, but loving being now able to access resources and the training to actually teach the children in their care. Next newsletters will focus on the children and on the coaches. We hope you will join our end of the year campaign to raise funds to expand our network of coaches and educational resources to reach its capacity of 180 preschools (we are at 121 now). Information about how to donate is on the Take Action page on the ASAP website. https://www.adoptasouthafricanpreschool.org/
See our brand new video, The A,B,C's of Adopt a South African Preschool. I have also attached a summary of where ASAP is today, which you might share with others you think would also be interested.
With gratitude and affection,
Nancy and the ASAP Team