Local NPO grants the less fortunate a stepping stone
CAST is a part of the Westville community which has the goal to empower the less fortunate, to better local communities and move beyond charity to capacitate churches to journey with families.
THE Church Alliance for Social Transformation (CAST) was born out of the community development programmes of three Baptist churches: Westville, KwaDabeka and Noodsberg. Over three decades, these churches had together developed partnerships with a number of schools, clinics and community-based organisations in poorer communities.
Through these partnerships, programmes to help the poor in these communities were already running when CAST was registered as an independent NPO in 2009. CAST currently works with 9 churches and is looking to partner with 13 local churches in Westville to empower the unemployed in their community.
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CAST’s PR and fundraiser manager, George Mwaura said, “CAST works throughout KwaZulu-Natal and currently provides food relief to 300 families per month, impacting close to 1200 people, as well as offer bags of sample clothing for redistribution. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the economy on a global scale, and this has been no different for CAST and partner churches.”
Many people have lost their primary source of income and consequently, the deficiency of basic human needs has intensified. CAST Community Facilitators conducted surveys using an online tool to measure the living standard of households referred by their church partners to assess the common needs in each community. It was found that, in many cases, families had limited physical access to food, low household income, high numbers of dependants, child-headed households, and limited resources to prepare meals.
What makes CAST unique and separates the organisation from other non-profits is the partnerships that CAST establishes with partner churches. CAST partners with and capacitates partner churches to address the social injustice and alleviation of poverty in their communities. The projects, whether assisting beneficiaries with immediate or medium-term needs, are all implemented with and through the Church on a grassroots-level.
CAST has also implemented the Grow Eat Thrive farming project which aims to upskill our church partners to set up economically viable food gardens in their communities to address food insecurity.
Mwaura said the goal of the organisation is to largely impact the community by granting the less fortunate a stepping stone to success.
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