A few hours make a difference #CommunityHours
ROSEBANK – A vibrant group of organisations spent their hours volunteering with Community Hours at Workshop 17 in order to give back to the community.
About 60 young volunteers took up the opportunity to enhance their skills while volunteering with Community Hours in Rosebank. The young learners came from schools including St John’s College, Kingsmead College, St Mary’s School, St Stithians prep and college, St Andrews School, Hyde Park High School and King David School.
According to co-founder and chief engagement officer at Community Hours, Karen Landi, Community Hours is an online platform which offers out-of-the-box volunteering opportunities. “Once the children have volunteered, they’re able to log all of their hours in our system. All hours are then verified through a verification process. Children are able to print certificates and reports for their schools and organisations can also know they are authentic.”
She added that once a month they organise the event and they currently have 7 000 users on their platform. Landi said the best part of the activity is that it promotes social cohesion as different learners get to meet people from other schools. Landi said they had invited six of their partner organisations for the day and each had activation stations where they were doing different activities.
“A lot of these organisations whom we partnered with today were actually started by children. Which shows that it doesn’t matter what age you are, you can still make a difference,” said Landi.
Sisters and founders of one of the six partner organisations called Books and Bras, Jess and Alyssa Powell said they found that many girls don’t know the existence of bras and it’s often hard to get the right sizes. However, the sisters said they have had many books upon request and they always emphasise their slogan – ‘education and support’.
Sharon Gordon, CEO of Dignity Dreams shared her project of manufacturing and distributing washable sanitary towels as well as menstrual bracelets which help keep track of one’s cycle. Gordon said they distributed 27 000 packs last year where each pack has six pads and these re-usable pads last for 48 months.
Founder of Beanies for Beings, Megan Botha also shared about her monthly donations and knitting projects with five focal points on charity. Botha said they don’t have any government funding and they assist families or individuals fallen on hard times with groceries, old age homes, premature babies with knitted toys and prosthetic boobs for cancer patients.
Other projects on the day included Sole 2 Sole which collects shoes for those in need; Aaron’s rock your socks; Pay it Forward Jozi which collects all manner of sports equipment and a recycling project which makes eco-bricks and various other things.
Co-founder of the event venue, Workshop 17, Mark Seftel said, “Today we sponsored the event. Our company is interested in creating a community working together and believe we all have a responsibility to make the world a better place. We believe people in shared workspaces do more.”
Details: Community Hours www.communityhours.co.za
Workshop 17 email mark@workshop17.co.za
Are you doing any projects in the community? Email details to naidines@caxton.co.za
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