Story of Hope: Foundation assists wherever it can

Janap Biemba, the senior project coordinator at the 100% Foundation, speaks about the foundation in awe, as the projects they do remain in her heart forever.

Although she was born in Durban, she now resides in the East Rand, assisting the foundation that helps Gauteng communities.

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“We serve communities in Gauteng, mainly by supporting NGOs, ECDs, churches, old-age homes and orphanages,” she said.

Some of the places that the foundation is already affiliated with and help regularly are:

ECO Children, Benoni Child Welfare, The Almond Tree, Pfunanani Day Care, Siyathemba Day Care, Ebenhaeser Old Age Home, Hope orphanage, Fortress of Refuge and many more.

The 100% Foundation officially began its mission in 2015.

“This foundation was established by Murray Hewlett and Paul Mc Namee,” she said.

“It all began with the need to make a difference in the community we serve.

“It just made philanthropic sense to create an NGO to contribute to the needs of the community.”

The foundation assists mainly with the following:

• ECD resources: aligned with CAPS learning.

• Nutrition: a child cannot learn on an empty stomach.

• Sanitation and hygiene.

• Knowledge support: most of their ECDs are in the informal sector with no means to access the internet, so they lean on the foundation to provide material.

• Skills development: ensuring that the children attending the ECD are in good hands. They support educators as well with ECD level- accredited courses such as fire safety and first-aid course.

The foundation often assists SANBS with blood donations, by hosting a blood donation day at Affinity Health in Benoni, but there is plenty more of what the foundation has accomplished in its short time of being around.

Nutrition:

“We distribute and sometimes re-package non-perishable essential grains to communities. With the current Covid-19 pandemic, we were able to secure with our supplier surplus grains, samp, rice, maize meal and beans in bulk to distribute to destitute families and NGOs,” she said.

“Over 1 000 beneficiaries benefited and are still benefiting from this project.”

Chief Albert Luthuli Primary:

“The opening of the library in 2018, was heartwarming as we have imprinted the culture of reading to so many children. The foundation together with Benoni Lions was instrumental in providing books, shelving, a software programme to manage books, a toy library, puzzles and more.”

Random acts of kindness:

“Gautrain staff officials returned a huge sum of travellers’ cheques to the owner,” she said.

“The three staff members involved in this act were supported by the foundation with uniforms, stationery and school fees for their children.”

Nelson Mandela Day:

“Our contribution each year is to participate in the initiative however we can.

“We packed, during the 2020 pandemic, nutritious food packs with help of volunteers from 3DAcademy; feeding over 2 000 people.”

Hope Orphanage in Kingsway:

“We assisted with the refurbishment of the entire home, school uniforms, stationery for the children, food and clothing.”

BAG of Hope (Soweto):

“Affinity Health Benoni staff members filled school bags with essential stationery for children identified from the one of NGOs we support in the West Rand (KAGCISHAM women project).

The foundation is not actively seeking NGOs currently due to budget constraints, but any new application for assistance is welcome.

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“It goes through a due diligence process for evaluation by our board,” she said.

“However, all the NGOs we support are always in need of donation and support, and we hope this article will also raise awareness for more help from the corporate world just to partner with us for donations as we are in a position to issue an 18. A certificate for tax rebate purposes.

“We have social media pages where people have reached out to us, such as Facebook and Twitter.”

Requests for assistance can be sent to the foundation at info@100percentfoundation.co.za or their WhatsApp on 076 395 8212, which is monitored by all team members.

The foundation requests help from the community with regards to the following items:

• Donations of good usable clothing

• Companies to sponsor PPE, sanitiser and masks for schooling programmes.

“I love being a part of this foundation, one memory I will never forget is my time spent with the seniors at Ebenhaeser Old Age Home,” she said.

“We hosted a party for them, playing 1940’s and 1950’s music, just to see how they could relate to the songs and dance with us on that day, it was great and very memorable.”