Rachel’s Wishes was born from grief but it has grown into something filled with generosity, connection and real impact… and its latest initiative is another powerful chapter in the Adcock family story.
Western Cape, South Africa (14 April 2026) – Thirty years is a long time to carry loss… but it can also be a long time to build something extraordinary out of love.
For Christine Adcock, that love has never stood still. It has moved, grown, reached outward and, over the years, touched thousands of young lives through a charity created in memory of her daughter, Rachel. What began as unimaginable grief after the passing of three-year-old Rachel Catherine Adcock in 1996 has become something living, breathing and deeply impactful.
Christine, now 74, is the founder of Rachel’s Wishes, a registered South African NPO established in 2014. Since its inception, the organisation has raised over R1.65 million and supported more than 19,000 children with clothing, books, toys, essentials and meaningful community projects. The work is hands-on, personal and always rooted in dignity.
Christine has never hidden from the reality of grief. She speaks about it openly, honestly and with a perspective that shifts something in you when you hear it. There is a point, she explains, where a choice presents itself… to stay in that grief, or to take the love that remains and turn it into something that can make a difference. She chose the latter, and in doing so, created a legacy that continues to grow year after year.
Now, that legacy is expanding once again… and this new chapter is all about books, imagination and giving children access to stories that can shape their futures.
“We have recently been donated 400 bookcases by Woodcentre in Cape Town, along with 4,000 children’s books in English, Afrikaans, Xhosa and wordless formats from BookDash. These bookcases, along with a selection of books, are being distributed to 27 NPOs working tirelessly in their communities, with a focus on ECD centres and early literacy. The aim is simple but powerful: to give young children access to books, stories, and learning spaces that spark imagination and build a foundation for lifelong reading.
We will be launching this initiative on World Book Day, and on Thursday, 23 April, we will be handing over the first set of bookcases to an ECD centre in Wellington in honour of the day. It feels like the perfect moment to celebrate literacy, community, and collaboration.”
It’s an initiative that feels simple on the surface… a bookcase and some books in a corner in a classroom. But when you listen to Christine speak about it, you realise it’s far more than that.
“I haven’t personally come across anyone donating bookcases to ECDs, which isn’t to say wonderful people haven’t done it, but when the amazing team at Woodcentre Cape Town offered to make these for me, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands. I even visited several ECDs myself to ask what they thought of the idea. The response was a unanimous thumbs-up, which is how we’ve ended up with over 27 ECDs across the Western Cape receiving bookcases.
Some centres are receiving two or more, while larger organisations that focus solely on ECDs, such as Ladles of Love and the AJ Foundation, are receiving 30+ bookcases each. The AJ Foundation even travels in 4x4s to reach ECDs in areas I simply can’t get to, so knowing these bookcases will reach children in remote communities means the world to me.”
The impact of early literacy is well documented but hearing it through this project gives it weight and urgency. Access to books changes outcomes. It expands vocabulary, builds confidence and opens doors long before a child even realises it. And for many children in underserved communities, that access simply doesn’t exist.
This is what makes the bookcase project so powerful. It creates a space where stories live. A place where children can explore language, imagination and possibility every single day. A dedicated book corner becomes more than furniture… it becomes opportunity.
Behind it all is something beautifully human… the way this initiative came to life.
“Who made this happen? Good question. So at night when I can’t sleep, I have ideas that pop in my head. I normally send myself a WhatsApp in the dark so that I don’t forget in the morning. These ideas, with the help of my volunteers (we are mainly pensioners, ranging from 87 down to myself and a couple of much younger ladies), make everything come to life. I believe in collaboration; if we all help each other, we can achieve SOOOOO much more than when we work alone. I have something you need and you have something that will help me. I am blessed to have great friends who believe in this concept, and over the years, collaborating, sharing and working together, we have achieved so much.”
And that spirit of collaboration doesn’t stop here. It flows through everything Rachel’s Wishes does.
From annual golf days that raise funds for other charities, to supporting organisations like RAM with both funding and resources, to helping feed thousands of people each week, the ripple effect is constant. One project leads to another. One act of kindness unlocks ten more.
“We host annual golf days and funds raised from these events go to help other charities achieve their goals. A great example is last year we donated R80,000 (one of our recipients from the 2025 golf day) to RAM, who are busy renovating a building in Montague that will help them in their feeding of 3000 a week and the upliftment centre. As a charity, we have been able to provide them not only with funds but with furniture for the upliftment centre, clothing for the people, crockery, a music centre enabling them to teach kids dancing, sports equipment and more. They are going to launch this on 23rd May, and our daughter’s name will be one of the names above the door.”
There are also the smaller, deeply meaningful initiatives that speak volumes about the heart behind the work.
“I am also hoping to help another organisation with getting boys off the streets into programmes designed to keep them off drugs, alcohol, theft, building a life for themselves, believing and loving themselves. We support World Premi Day every year with our Bags of Love filled to the brim with great starter items for mum and baby. Mandela Day sees us filling hopefully this year 1000 coffee jars with rice, split peas, lentils and soup mix. My hubby, who is 81 this year, washed every single jar last year and took all the labels off himself. We call these Jars of Hope… the sticker gives all the cooking instructions. We hand out one jar to a family of four with half a loaf of bread, one carrot, an onion and a potato. This feeds a family of four a meal. If we get knitted jerseys for the children, we hand these out at the same time. I will try to get blankets as well this year.”
And then there are Rachel’s Wishes still waiting in the wings…
“I hosted a musical event at Artscape and raised funds for Red Cross Children’s Hospital. On that note, my biggest dream is to host a musical event at the DHL Stadium. I would like to follow the successful programme in the UK called Youth Choirs, Youth Voices. Utilising choirs from privileged and underprivileged schools, learning a song by an artist and singing that with them… Imagine the good this would do for the Western Cape. I have a musical director on board, interested sponsors and artists all waiting in the background.”
It’s impossible to walk away from this story without feeling completely inspired. Not just in the scale of what’s been achieved but in the intention behind it all. Rachel’s Wishes was born from heartbreak but it has never been defined by it. Instead, it has become a living legacy… one that continues to grow, to give and to reach further than anyone could have imagined three decades ago.
And now, with 400 bookcases, 4,000 books and countless little hands ready to turn their pages, that legacy is writing its next chapter.
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