JOBURG – Homeless Talk, Office National and City Buzz celebrate Mandela Day.
Staff Reporter
Sol Morrison of Office National GR Pym, Luke Jentile chief editor and Nomonde Hamilton co-assistant at Homeless Talk, Tsholo Maleka marketing coordinator at Office National, Leonard Goeieman and Ashton Goeieman of Office National GR Pym, Geshika Vorster head of marketing City Buzz.
GR Pym Office National and City Buzz follow in a giant’s footsteps on Mandela Day by supporting the homeless and aspiring young journalists.
As South Africans celebrated 100 years of Nelson Mandela, GR Pym Office National teamed up with City Buzz to give back to the community with a donation to Homeless Talk.
The Homeless Talk is a local community newspaper distributed in Johannesburg and surrounding areas, which is printed by Caxton, City Buzz’ parent company, free of charge. More than 100 street vendors receive an income from the distribution of these paid newspapers to the public, from which a small portion of the fee goes towards office maintenance and the bulk of proceeds going towards the individual vendor.
The aim of the distribution of these newspapers is to uplift the homeless community of Johannesburg by allowing them to become contributing members of society; with the hope that these efforts will result in the reduction in poverty, unemployment and homelessness.
Young and aspiring journalists and production students contribute to Homeless Talk, gaining experience and guidance from the humble and hardworking team, who have dedicated their careers to the newspaper.
Riana Goeieman, manager at GR Pym Office National, the Johannesburg CBD branch of southern Africa’s largest independently owned stationery, office furniture and supplies provider recognised the work Homeless Talk does for the community and said they wanted to give back to them in the form of a donation.
“We wanted to show our appreciation for what Homeless Talk aims to achieve in our local community by donating a stationery hamper and printer to them,” said Goeieman.
Nomonde Hamilton co-assistant at Homeless Talk and Tsholo Maleka marketing coordinator at Office National.
“Their efforts to find and produce great news from around the city and help the homeless to help themselves is work that everyone should acknowledge and appreciate. They’re doing phenomenal work and we hope that our donation can assist them to continue to do their best.”
The donation from Goeieman and the City Buzz team was made to assist the operations and circulation of the positive-news publication, which distributes 15 000 copies each month throughout Alexandra, Johannesburg City and Suburban areas, Parktown North, Rosebank, Sandton and Soweto.
Managing editor, Luke Jentile was excited about the donation and eager to put his new tools to good use. “We’re very happy about these new products. They will definitely help us in the production of Homeless Talk and we are so grateful that Office National and City Buzz could help us this way.”
