uMhlanga padel day drives charitable donations
The Umhlanga SPAR Group recentl raised funds for two organisations at a padel day event.
THE Umhlanga SPAR Group recently donated R10 000 to environmental organisation The Litterboom Project and R5 000 to local charity Grace Aid.
The proceeds were raised at a padel day event held at Padel Nation in uMhlanga.
Padel, a racquet-based ball sport, is one of the fastest growing sports on the planet and was the drawcard for people to make a difference to a cause, explained Umhlanga SPAR Group marketing manager, Keegan Anderson.
“My brother is an avid padel player, and at the beginning of the year, we came up with the idea to host a padel day. It was a different way for us to engage with the community and to raise funds for the charities we work with. We also put out an appeal for participants to donate clothing, toys, blankets and books for Grace Aid on the day.
“The response from the community was so incredible that we are hoping to make this an annual event. Over the last few years, I’ve seen the incredible work The Litterboom Project has done in the rivers and beaches across Durban. We’ve also worked closely with Grace Aid, and we wanted to do everything we could to raise awareness of the profiles of both initiatives as well as raise as much as possible,” he said.
Josh Redman of The Litterboom Project said the funds raised at the event will be used for the Back-a-Beach project.
“We are so grateful to the Umhlanga SPAR Group for this donation. They’ve been super supportive of our cause, and this money will go directly into our Back-a-Beach teams currently working at the uMhlanga estuary. Although we focus on the rivers, we’ve also deployed teams on beaches. In recent years, we’ve grown outside of the name of The Litterboom Project, which refers to the boom, into doing more land-based programmes, including recycling,” he said.
Rose Khanyile of Grace Aid also expressed her gratitude to SPAR for the donation.
“We’ve worked with Keegan and SPAR for quite some time now. They’ve been really kind and have helped us reach communities we support through shoe drives and empowerment initiatives. This donation will enable us to touch more lives. We work closely with the Sinakekele Children’s Home, and we know the blankets, toys and books will go some way towards helping them,” she said.
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