Clothing and blanket drive to help keep families warm
Ray of Hope, which looks after families in Alexandra Township, is hugely grateful to be a beneficiary.
South Africans are encouraged to join the drive to warm the nation by donating new or clean, previously loved blankets and children’s clothing.
The donations can be dropped into collection boxes placed at 45 Pick n Pay Clothing stores across the country.
The Pick n Pay Clothing store in Mall@Carnival is one of the participating stores.
This new clothing and blanket drive sees Pick n Pay partner with Operation Smile South Africa, SOS Children’s Villages and Rays of Hope to lead a clothing and blanket drive.
“Every three minutes a child is born with a cleft lip, cleft palate, or both,” said Lauren Bright, country manager at Operation Smile.
“This statistic doesn’t change – even during a global pandemic.
“We recognise that our communities need more than surgical support during this current pandemic, and through this initiative with Pick n Pay, we are hoping to help keep our children and vulnerable people warm too.
“Partnering with other NPOs is key right now for strengthening nationwide support and we are so excited to have SOS Children’s Villages and Rays of Hope as the additional beneficiaries.”
According to Suzanne Ackerman-Berman, transformation director at Pick n Pay, many South Africans are experiencing hardship and by creating partnerships such as this, one can collectively make a greater difference in communities.
She added that their Feed the Nation campaign is proof of what can be achieved with strong collaboration.
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“Working with customers and organisations, over 18 million meals have been donated to those most in need since lockdown started through this campaign,” said Ackerman-Berman.
The collection bins will be available until mid-October 2020 in selected Pick n Pay Clothing stores nationwide.
DHL Supply Chain and DHL Express have also partnered in the initiative and will collect all donations from stores and deliver them to beneficiaries.
Customers can also pledge a direct donation to Operation Smile by scanning the Snap Scan or Zapper code at PnP Clothing till points at participating stores.
Ray of Hope, which looks after families in Alexandra Township, is hugely grateful to be a beneficiary.
“We have been based in Alexandra for almost 30 years and work with a network of organisations in the area so we know that the donated items will be equitably distributed to the most vulnerable people,” said Sihle Mooi, CEO of Rays of Hope.
“We’re excited about bringing hope to Alex in this way.”
Patrick Kulati, national director of SOS Children’s Villages SA explained this partnership will benefit children who are growing up loved and valued in SOS programmes.
“As part of our global drive to give back to local communities, DHL actively embraces its social responsibility efforts throughout South Africa and around the world,” said Jarryd Pretorius, communications, marketing and CSI lead Africa for DHL Supply Chain.
“With many vulnerable children and disadvantaged families currently in need during the Covid-19 pandemic, DHL Supply Chain and DHL Express are excited to join forces once again in order to support this initiative by providing the logistics needs required.”
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