Despite a year filled with challenges, the non-profit charity organisation Kindness with Confetti has continued to help as many of those in need as they can.
Kindness with Confetti was founded by Alyson Samson and mainly assists by collecting and distributing goods to help the betterment of the underprivileged community. They have four main projects which include, collecting and distributing sanitary products, a feeding scheme at a crèche, collecting new and gently used bras for underprivileged women and a knitting project for children.
“In addition to these projects, we run a special project in the spirit of kindness each month targeting different community needs. We also assist a soup kitchen in the Linden area on a Monday evening, and we feed the needy in Westdene, Westbury and Newclare almost every day [depending on donations],” Samson said.
Their past projects include collecting cat and dog food for various shelters and animal organisations, collecting items for Cancer Comfort Care Bags for the Breast Health Foundation, collecting Easter eggs for children’s homes and old aged homes, chocolates for Valentine’s Day for old aged homes, books for underprivileged school libraries, dignity bags for rape survivors, supplying adult diapers to frail care centers, second-hand clothing and household goods for those in need non-perishable food items for various feeding schemes.
In 2018 the organisation had a big day on Mandela Day where they gave a grand total of 3 400 sandwiches to the children in Yeoville Community School thanks to generous donations from their supporters and work by our volunteers. Their original target was to make 967 sandwiches.
“During the year we also ran other successful projects, we have distributed almost 6 000 bras through our Project Uplift and ZABRA a free bra initiative to women who can’t afford their own. We have collected and distributed adult and baby diapers in January, 1 152 valentine’s chocolates in February, 7 300 Easter eggs, 965 Mother’s Day gifts, 74 homeless care packs, 2 carloads of toiletries for Women’s Month, loads of young adult books, dictionaries and high school textbooks in Youth Month, and items for Cancer Comfort Care Packs in October for the Breast Health Foundation. We had a very successful fund-raising dinner at Satori Restaurant in Linden during October which raised much-needed funds to buy food and other necessities for our projects.”
She continued to say that 2018 has been a difficult year as the numbers of jobless, displaced and hungry people has increased dramatically. There are huge numbers of people constantly approaching us for help, for jobs, for food, for clothing etc. She said there is a huge need, adding that sometimes it feels completely overwhelming. “We were extremely sad when our feeding scheme at an old aged home in Westdene came to an end and we hope to re-establish it next year. In the interim, we are still feeding families, the elderly and others in need in Westdene, Westbury and Newclare, and have established a feeding scheme at a crèche in Westdene.”
For more information on the organisation and their work or to offer assistance to the organisation, people can visit their Facebook page, Kindness like Confetti KLC. “We particularly need non-perishable food and gift cards (preferably from food stores) to enable us to keep feeding people, but most of all we ask for tolerance and kindness towards others,” Samson concluded.
