GALLERY: Charity begins at home
JOHANNESBURG NORTH – Find a need and meet it. Find a hurt and heal it.
For the past five years, chef Kendal van Katwijk of Two Little Tarts has been hosting a ‘Christmas in July’ gathering for close friends and family at her home on Market Street. Not only is it a great way for the hostess to test out new recipes on hungry guests, but it is a fun way for all her guests to contribute to a charitable cause.
“My husband Richard and I actually started throwing Christmas in July parties seven years ago,” said van Katwijk.
“For the first two years we just did ‘Secret Santa’ style gift-giving. Each guest was randomly assigned another guest to whom they anonymously gave a pressie, which had a strict price limit of R100. Then in 2011, the same year I launched my catering company, I decided to shake things up a bit, and started asking each guest to rather donate that R100 to a charity I had chosen, or to buy something on the charity’s wishlist, which I’d send out with the invitation. I’d then use the money we collected to buy goodies on the charity’s wishlist, or a voucher for a store which stocked the kind of stuff they needed.”
Van Katwijk reflects back on the charities she and her friends and family have supported over the past five years: “So far we have helped the Randburg SPCA, the Pastoral Centre Pre-school and Crèche in Soweto, the Centre for Animal Rehabilitation and Education (CARE) in Limpopo, and Resthaven Ministeries in the south of Joburg.”
“My hope is that our little working model for Christmas in July can have a domino effect,” concluded van Katwijk. “To inspire other people to do the same. Besides being a great excuse for a chilled get-together with friends and family, it’s a brilliant way to raise funds for charity. Can you imagine if a couple dozen houses across every suburb did the same, how much money we could raise, on just one day!”
Why not host your own Christmas in July for Mandela Day next year? Better yet, use your own birthday, during any month of the year, as an opportunity to give back to those less fortunate. Instead of gifts, ask your friends and family for donations which you can then use to directly benefit a charity of your choice.
