#BeyondtheShoebox: Santa Shoebox Project makes significant impact with Covid-19 social relief

Now in its 15th campaign, South Africa’s best-loved children?s charity, the Santa Shoebox (SSB) Project, has touched the lives of 957 297 underprivileged children throughout South Africa and in Namibia.

With annual reach extending to up to 100 000 children, the project will be receiving and handing out its millionth shoebox this year.

To commemorate this magnificent achievement for the past three years as part of the project’s March to a Million, private donations have been accruing with a view to making a significant difference to the impoverished communities in which SSB beneficiary children live.

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What better time than right now, in the throes of Covid-19, to alleviate suffering and uplift lives in the hardest hit areas of South Africa. With this in mind, SSB founder Irené Pieters extended project funding to organisations doing meaningful work in line with UN Sustainability Development Goals.

Irené said SSB goes to great lengths to find and serve rural children who receive aid from neither government nor large NPOs.

“During these uncertain times, the children and their families suffer the same devastating effects as those living in urban parts of the country, with the impact worsening already dire circumstances. Much of what is being done right now in response to Covid-19 is relief, not solution. We balanced our donations to address both the preserving of lives and that of livelihoods,” she said.

She explained that their legacy project, #beyondtheshoebox, is aimed at food security, income generation, education, infrastructure support, gender-based violence, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean electricity and climate action. Covid-19 has accelerated and re-prioritised the project’s goals.

For detailed information about each donation, visit the SSB Project Facebook page.

The organisations receiving donations of cash and/or essential items from the SSB Project are:

Hunger relief

• Fundisa Umntwana (Winterton KZN): feeding children from four SSB recipient crèches as well as their family members, amounting to more than 600 people.
• Feed Rural KZN (Mbazwana KZN): feeding 6 500 people across four wards close to Sodwana Bay.
• Eco Children (Hoedspruit Limpopo): having a positive impact on environmental awareness and education among the youth in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, leading to better conservation and economic outcomes.
• Rise Against Hunger (national): food distribution, short-term grants to buy local food, empowering communities through sustainable agriculture.

Food security

• FoodFlow SA (Cape Town): the sponsorship of a bag of produce for a family facing food insecurity will provide fresh, nutritious food, while additionally supporting local small-scale farms. For every four produce bags you sponsor, you will be entered into a raffle to win a meal at one of the fine-dining restaurant partners.
• Abalimi Bezekhaya (Cape Town): this micro-farming organisation aims to provide basic human necessities for indigent persons, by assisting impoverished groups and communities within greater Cape Town to establish and maintain their own vegetable gardens, so as to enable them to supplement their existing, inadequate supply of food and create livelihoods.
• Save the Sheep (Sutherland, Northern Cape): empowers the drought-stricken Northern Cape farming community through skills training. They are currently making masks, blankets, toys and baked goods as a sustainable income stream.
• Abalobi (West Coast, Western Cape): aimed at social justice and poverty alleviation in the small-scale fisheries chain. Promoting traceable, storied seafood by empowered small-scale fishers from hook to cook, in a manner that is not only ecologically responsible, but also socially fair.

Gender-based violence

• Epic Foundation (Johannesburg): assists victims of rape and abuse, including women in shelters. During this time of crisis it is focused on women and children in abusive relationships. Social distancing and self-isolation can make living with an abusive partner even more challenging.

Clean water and sanitation

• Hippo Roller (national): specifically designed to alleviate the suffering incurred and time consumed collecting water in tough rural conditions. This appropriate technology rolls 90-litres of water on the ground and has been deployed since 1993.

Clean energy

• Little Sun (national): solar lamps providing up to 50 hours of light after a five-hour charge, saving people money on purchasing electricity, gas, candles or paraffin – over and above the health issues that come with inhaling fumes or the fire hazard from candles.

Climate action

• Subz (national): reusable pads and panties which last for five years, as well as menstrual cups, both of which prevent environmental waste. There are 7 000 000 girls in South Africa between the ages of 13 and 19. Statistics show that 4 000 000 of these girls do not have regular access to sanitary products.

Background

In its 14 years, SSB has touched almost a million children’s lives. Teams pledging 50 shoeboxes or more, which includes corporate CSI pledges, are facilitated from August 3. Traditional pledging opens to the public on September 1. From this date, donors are able to pledge SSB online, selecting children living in and around their community by name, age, gender and clothing size.

Take part

The public can participate in the SSB Project by visiting www.santashoebox.org.za to register as a supporter. From September 1, donors will be able to choose the child/ren for whom they wish to pledge a shoebox. The decorated shoeboxes need to be dropped off at central distribution points across the country on designated dates in October and November. From August 1, a list of these can be found at santashoebox.org.za/find-my-local-dropoff/

The following items are required to complete a SSB:

1. Standard-sized shoebox or plastic container, colourfully decorated, with the lid wrapped separately.

2. QR coded label, which will be emailed to the donor upon pledging online.

3. Toothbrush.

4. Toothpaste.

5. Facecloth.

6. Soap.

7. Toy.

8. Outfit of clothing.

9. School supplies.

10. Sweets.

All items must be new, unused and age-appropriate.

* As a level-one contributor to B-BBEE, the SSB Project earns 100 points on the generic scorecard, and with Section 18A status, is able to provide a tax-deductible receipt in recognition of donations. The project is an initiative of the JOG Trust (IT2671/2009). The trust is registered as a public benefit organisation (PBO-930031301) and a non-profit organisation (NPO 102-098).

Social media – Facebook: SantaShoebox / Twitter: @SantaShoebox / Instagram: santashoebox / YouTube: The Santa Shoebox Project / Pinterest: santashoeboxContact the project liaison at info@santashoebox.org.za

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