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What are you doing to give back to your community this Mandela Day?
On 18 July teams of SAB staff from around the country will gather in their communities at places that they have identified as needing assistance. These range from hospitals to creches, homes for abused women to kitchens where food is prepared for the needy, and more. Contributions will also represent the diversity of the needs of these communities including food donations, building renovations, basic blankets, sports kits and food gardens.
We hope you’ll find some inspiration and ideas in here to instigate your own humanitarian activities as we celebrate the legacy of a great man who personified the idea that one person really does have the power to make a difference and change the world.
North Region
1. Celebrating babies born around this time
Teams from the SAB offices in the province will be visiting their local hospitals and giving out new born-baby hampers (starter packs) to less privileged mothers for babies born on Mandela Day at various hospitals around the Region’s depots.
These nine hospitals will benefit: Tintswalo Hospital, Witbank Provincial Hospital, Mankweng Hospital, Tshilidzini Hospital, Mamelodi Hospital, Philadelphia Hospital, George Mkhari Hospital, Odi Hospital.
Central Region
2. Sports centre refurbishment
Central Region together with the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) and Department of Sports will refurbish the Tommy Morebodi Sports Centre at Galeshewe, Kimberley. Other corporates, including ABSA and De Beers, will partner in this R1M plus multi-phased project.4 http://www.nyda.gov.za/
3. Blankets and food
The Region will also hand over blankets to community-based, non-profit organisations in Phuthaditjaba (Free State) and Rustenburg. Food parcels and baby goods will also be donated to a child centre at Mahikeng, Mmabatho
Egoli Region
4. Feeding hungry students
The SAB team at Central Office has set a challenge to their staff. Partnering with Stop Hunger Now SA (SHN SA), the staff will be packaging food parcels to benefit over 600 university students who often go hungry, which can have a negative effect on their academics and an increase in drop-out rates. Also, for every 20 employees participating, SAB will contribute R9000. This translates to 3 272 meal packs feeding 22 students 12 meals per month for the entire year.
5. Community health
The region previously refurbished and upgraded the Ekhuruleni-based Kwa-Thema Community Health Clinic’s maternal unit. On Mandela Day, employees, together with representatives from the Gauteng Department of Health and Local Government, will clean the Clinic’s premises as well as well as set up stations to raise FAS (Foetal Alcohol Syndrome) awareness especially for pregnant mothers.
6. Caring for Kathorus Child and Family Centre
Kathorus Child and Family Centre will receive refurbishment work to their kids’ cottage. The Centre provides day care and therapy services for 34 abused, abandoned, neglected and orphaned children on a temporary basis with a view of placing them in alternative care. Employees will paint the premises, donate blankets and prepare lunch for the children and caregivers.
7. Baking, donating and raising funds
Our team will be donating baking equipment and uniforms to Sparrow Ministries in Maraisburg. Our employees will also be baking bread and rolls. The bread will be sold to raise funds for the organisation, while the rolls will be shared with the beneficiaries and care-givers of Sparrow Ministries. Our team will also be helping to give the facility’s bakery a facelift by painting it and varnishing the bakery window.
8. Planting seeds of self sufficiency at Soweto Epilepsy
Donate gardening equipment and tunnels to the Soweto Epilepsy Self-Help Organisation (SESHO). Employees will also participate in cleaning the garden and planting the tunnels.
East Coast Region
9. Caring for Siyakhana Child Youth Centre
Our Butterworth team will be handing over toys and food parcels for the centre, which looks after orphaned, abused and abandoned children.
10. Food and food gardens Cato Manor
Our team will implement a food tunnel and gardening project for Cato Manor Food Garden and Community Project, a community feeding scheme. Our team from the regional office will be donating gardening equipment and fixing a Jojo tank. We will also donate food parcels to 20 poverty-stricken families.
11. Pyjamas and linen for and HIV care facility
Ethembeni is a 90-bed, registered care facility for HIV-related illnesses in the Empangeni area. Our team there will be donating pyjamas and linen to the facility’s patients.
12. School uniforms, soccer kits and a school cleanup
Together with the Amajuba Municipality Mayor, our Ladysmith team will hand over 20 school uniforms and two soccer kits to underprivileged school kids in the area. Our team there will also clean two schools.
13. Assisting Ikwezi Rehabilitation Centre
Our team in Umtata have identified a need at Ikwezi Rehabilitation Centre, which houses about 70 disabled, abused and abandoned people; both adults and children. The team will be handing out groceries, shower chairs and nappies to the home.
14. Food parcels for the Meeting the Needs Foundation
Our team will be helping Meeting the Needs Foundation packing food parcels starting on Thursday the 17th July, so that they’re ready for distribution on the 19th for approximately 1500 needy people. They’ll also be supporting The Post’s event at Verulam Day and Frail Care Centre.
15. Donating play facilities
Our Pietermaritzburg team will be putting up a jungle gym and swings at Masibubane Crèche, followed by a braai with hot dogs for the kids.
16. Supporting the Mercury Hibberdene Children’s Home
The South Coast team at Port Shepstone will be helping out the Mercury Hibberdene Children’s Home, which houses vulnerable children rescued by various social organisations. They will be handing over a cheque of R25 000 and serving lunch to the children.
17. Assisting in feeding the needy, and renovating a feeding scheme kitchen
Our Prospecton depot team have chosen to assist in food matters. They will first be renovating the Food For Life kitchen at where food is regularly prepared for the needy. Renovations will include building works and tiling. They will also be donating to Chinmaya Mission Feeding Scheme as well as Chatsworth Hospice and celebrating with a cake-cutting ceremony there.
18. Funding milk at crèches around KZN
At the Prospecton Brewery the staff will be handing over a cheque of R50 000 to the Daily News’ Milk Fund, which distributes milk to underprivileged Crèches around the Durban area. They have also partnered with Isolezwe to contribute to a needy charity identified by the newspaper.
Cape Region
19. Soup Kitchen and donations to Goodwill safety shelter
The Goodwill safety shelter is a non-profit organisation based in Aliwal North which supports children that have problems at home, and assists them getting through school. The kids stay at the shelter during school terms. Our staff members will run a soup kitchen on the day for members around the organisation as well as donate blankets.
20. Helping to build houses
The Newlands staff will be participating in a project in Pelican Park, Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, where Habitat for Humanity and Power Construction are to build low-cost housing and bridge the gap for the delivery of government subsidised housing within this community. We will contribute towards purchasing of material for the construction on site. Our team will also be assisting on site with the construction and clean-up of the site
21. Caring for the elderly
Ethembheni Old Age Home is an old age home situated in Mdantsanse, East London, which accommodates elderly members of this community. Our teams will be painting the perimeter wall of the premises as there are no funds for the upkeep of the building. They’ll also donate blankets to the home.
22. Assisting at Outeniqua Refuge for Battered Women
Our teams in the George area will be getting involved at BPW Outeniqua Refuge for Battered Women, where they will paint at the shelter, fix leaking pipes and supply blankets.. This is an organisation which takes in and assists battered and abused women and children. Majority of the women’s partners are awaiting criminal trials. The Centre serves as halfway house providing protection for the women and children.
23. Meeting the needs of the elderly
Our team in Knysna has identified a need at Vermont Old Age Home. This home accommodates elderly members of this community and is in need of toiletries and blankets. SAB staff will be packaging these items and delivering them to the home for Mandela Day.
24. Food and blankets for community gardeners
The African Unity Custodian Trust is a consortium for several NPOs. The project that SAB will be focussing on is a vegetable garden situated in Joe Slovo, Port Elizabeth. Our teams will package “week survival packs” comprising of groceries, to be donated to members of the community who work in the vegetable gardens. They will also donate blankets to these members.
25. Refurbishing and painting a crèche
Our team in Queenstown will be refurbishing and painting a crèche in their area. St James Nursery School has been part of the community for the better part of 45 years and forms an integral part of its society. The current number of scholars is 150 kids, four teachers and four areas for teaching.
What have you got planned for July 18th?
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Why SAB participates in Mandela Day
At SAB we firmly believe that a healthy company can never sustain itself in an unhealthy society. We therefore acknowledge that it is partly our responsibility to ensure that the societies within which we operate enjoy a fair amount of development. We also are aware that we cannot realise this ambition by ourselves, and that we need to partner with government to reach those members of society who are most deserving of our support.
It is with this in mind that we have chosen, as a global corporate with its ancestry firmly rooted in South African soil, to actively take part in celebrating the legacy of former President Nelson Mandela by observing the upcoming Mandela Day. Nelson Mandela has devoted his life to peacefully fighting for freedom and social justice for all, and with more than 60 humanitarian awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, to his name, Mandela personifies the idea that one person really does have the power to make a difference and change the world.
