Casual Day 2023 to get the nation smiling
Your R20 can help light up faces and your smile can break down barriers – so go on, #ShareASmile this September.
Casual Day 2023 – celebrated on September 1 – is all about happy faces.
The National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities’ (NCPD) annual fundraising campaign has been launched and runs until September 1, which is Casual Day.
This year’s theme, #ShareASmile with Persons with Disabilities, aims to promote kindness, goodwill, and positivity in support of persons with disabilities in South Africa.
Casual Day provides much-needed funds for the work of hundreds of schools and organisations in the disability sector. These include nine provincial associations of and for persons with disabilities (APDs) and five nationwide programmes and projects that encompass workplace access and entrepreneurship, universal design and access, and gender-based violence awareness and training.
“Caxton Local Media is a proud Casual Day partner,” says Irma Green, Caxton local newspapers’ group editor. “We have supported Casual Day for many years and this year, are intensifying our efforts to ensure the Casual Day message reaches as many people as possible.
“People with disabilities deserve equal opportunities and respect and we hope that the part we play in Casual Day 2023 helps promote both while putting smiles on people’s faces. Remember, a smile can bridge most barriers,” she adds.
“The theme for Casual Day 2023 banks on a phenomenon that has been neglected for too long – one that must have been known to mankind from the beginning of time: The smile,” says NCPD national director Therina Wentzel. “The NCPD has decided to employ that uplifting, comforting and inspiring facial expression as an ally in this year’s campaign.”
She says a smile is indicative of the presence of love, kindness, goodwill, caring and many other positive traits in human hearts. “The most important characteristic of a smile that the NCPD believes it can utilise, is that it is more infectious than any disease known to man.”
Smiles can trigger a positive chain reaction of wonderfully uncontrollable proportions, believes Wentzel.
The NCPD is a non-profit organisation that works to protect the rights of persons with disabilities and to create an inclusive society in which people with disabilities can fully participate and enjoy the same rights and freedom as others.
Casual Day is the NCPD’s flagship project and contributes to the funding of over 700 disability sector organisations and schools. In support of Casual Day, individuals and organisations are encouraged to purchase stickers (R20 each) and specially branded merchandise before September 1, and to wear them with pride on the day.
Stickers are available for a donation of R20 from these outlets:
- Associations of and for Persons with Disabilities (APDs),
- Government Departments,
- Schools,
- Alpha Pharm,
- BKB,
- ESKORT,
- Clicks,
- JAM Clothing,
- Jet,
- Loot Online,
- The Hub Finbond
- Toys R Us
- or visit Casual Day online
You can also get your personalised digital Casual Day stickers online at the Casual Day website.
What to wear
The kindest thing you can wear is your ‘Share A Smile’ Casual Day sticker and merchandise – T-shirts, caps and bucket hats which are now available. Shop online here or via the online order form if you are a company. Donations received from stickers and supporter items directly benefit disability organisations throughout South Africa, so be sure to get yours.
Pair your sticker with some bright lipstick, facepaint, retro hairdos and smile-inspired activities (how about hosting a comedy show in support of Casual Day at your school or workplace?).
Tag the NCPD in your pictures on social media channels, and use the hashtag #ShareASmile #CasualDay to win great prizes.
To find out more or engage on social media visit Casual Day’s profiles on any of these platforms:
Read original story on www.citizen.co.za