Mrs PE winners ready for year of community upliftment

Prayer and perseverance were key factors in Chantellé Ferreira’s successful campaign to win the crown in the Kingfisher FM Mrs Port Elizabeth 2011 competition.

She said she prayed to God for guidance throughout the 2011 pageant, as she had in 2007 when she came second in the beauty pageant-with-a-difference which promotes  a culture of selfless giving to the needy and  requires contestants to participate together in a community upliftment project.

Chantellé said that just two months after the end of the 2007 Mrs PE pageant her mother had passed away.

“God knew what lay ahead for me. So this year I decided to enter again, and knowing what hard work lay ahead I went full throttle approaching sponsors etc.

“Well I can’t tell you how the doors opened. Out of all the sponsors I approached about 90 per cent said yes, which was such a blessing! Once again I prayed throughout the pageant asking for guidance and being four years older and wiser, I still had the same wish to win Mrs Port Elizabeth. This time I was lucky enough to win and I know that God has and will be there for me.”

After her crowning at a glittering event at the PE Opera House on September 3 Chantellé and her proud husband drove away in style in a sponsored new Mercedes Benz C Class from Maritime Motors. She also won numerous weekends away. The top three in the competition were also awarded study bursaries from Varsity College, Damelin and Millpark Business School. They will also have the support of Kingfisher FM during their year of reign for their charity fundraising projects.

While the pageant organised by the RoleModels Foundation draws entries from married women who are outwardly and inwardly beautiful, the real focus of the event is on giving without reward to  charities and the less fortunate. “Inspiring Hope in the Heart of the Community” is RoleModels Pageants’ slogan, as this is what they strive to instil in the lives of all the contestants. And the ladies have been supporting the Imfundo Project of the RoleModels Foundation over a number of weeks. The Mrs PE  pageant is  a vehicle through which positive change within the community can be brought about effectively.

The RoleModels Foundation was formed by concerned individuals understanding the importance that guidance and coaching can play in shaping the youth’s perception and outlook of circumstances and the role they need to play in the community. The objective is to give poor and destitute youth hope, through coaching programs, enhancing the possibility of the individual’s opportunities to become self-sustainable and economically active in society.

The organisers and sponsors could not have wished for more dedicated people to take the project forward. This year’s Mrs Port Elizabeth contestants and their husbands worked tirelessly to build the first phase of the Imfundo Pre-School, so that children who are aged 3 to 6 years can be in a nurturing, educational environment, instead of scavenging on the rubbish dumps of Malabar Ext. 6. Five swings were installed in the area, and finally children were playing in the area as they should be.

A feeding scheme was started four months ago, and the project is currently feeding 400 people every Friday. This month the team will  initiating the pre-school lessons, where they hope to feed the approximately 80 learners, on a daily basis. The community of Port Elizabeth has been most supportive of this initiative which relies heavily on sponsorship.

Selecting a top 10 in the Mrs Port Elizabeth pageant, thus eliminating 16 wonderful ladies, was extremely difficult for the judges; however, this group of 26 contestants has remained united and worked as a team. These women have taken the Mrs Port Elizabeth pageant to higher levels in celebration of women who stand together to achieve a common goal. They have made new friends and many of the ladies were surprised to discover they had similar belief systems, with the majority of entrants being Christians. The judging criteria included a spontaneous personality, confidence and compassion, style and grooming, leadership potential and good communication skills. This philanthropic pageant has brought forth phenomenal women, testifying to the pageant slogan of “Ordinary Women, achieving the Extra-Ordinary”.