Donations to help KZN
Local gym owner Donna Groothedde recently collected three loads of basic items for KwaZulu-Natal families in need.
After the mass riots and looting of July 9 and onward, with KwaZulu-Natal arguably hit the hardest, communities across the country came together like they often do to lend a helping hand.
Right here in Krugersdorp, a group of philanthropists banded together to send a few loads of much-needed aid in the form of food and other basic items to the province.
Donna Groothedde, owner of Donna’s Health & Fitness realised that a serious void was left in many KZN residents’ lives by the looting and felt she had to help. “They still are in great need of food and general supplies. I asked for help from our amazing Donna’s Health and Fitness team, and our incredible in-studio and online clients. We even had online clients from other parts of the world make cash donations. I thought it would be really awesome to give the other fitness centres the opportunity to get involved and contribute where they could. We received donations from from Iria from B to Z Dance Fitness, from Nicole from RoxSport and from Shimone from SLM Fitness.”
In the end, Donna and the team collected enough to fill two small planes and a truckload to send to the coastal province. Direct item donations made up about two large bakkie loads, and they used an additionally R10 000 in cash donations to buy enough for one more bakkie load.
Donna got in touch with Alexis Phelps, a third-year law student who regularly does community outreaches, who put them in touch with Flight Projects which, Donna explained, “… is an NPO that flies supplies to rural areas in need, and they thankfully made themselves available for the KZN projects”.
Among the long list of items donated were general food products, medication, toiletries, pet food and baby products.
“I feel it’s our social responsibility to look after and care for one another, so wherever I see an opportunity to do just that I jump at it. I felt so terrible for the families and business owners in KZN. I know what it takes to build a business; I know how much effort it requires; I understand the blood, sweat and tears shed; I know how long it takes. It was devastating to see that all go up in flames,” Donna said.
On Wednesday, July 21 the first load reached KZN and was distributed to various communities in need.
