This drive was done in the form of a Twitter Blanket Drive with the use of the hashtag, #TBD2016. The aim was to help ease the cold for some of the country’s poor and homeless with its various hotel around the country acting as drop-off points for the donation of blankets for the cold winter months.
The Blanket Drive community initiative started in 2010 when businesswoman Melanie Minnaar sent out a Tweet calling on others to help collect blankets for poor and homeless people. Minnaar was blown away when her single Tweet went viral, and within two weeks, members of the South African Twitter community had donated more than 700 blankets to be distributed to charities.
In 2011, 2 700 blankets were collected and the number has grown substantially every year since.
The year’s drive ran during April and May and members of the public responded generously to the call. The hotel in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, collected a whopping 470 blankets from guests and members of the public. The blankets will be donated to two organisations, Soul Provider and Soul Food, for distribution among the needy.
Nicholas Barenblatt, group marketing manager of Protea Hotels said, “All Protea Hotels support a cause of their choice. Our philosophy is that we need to give back to our communities. The involvement in the blanket drive is an initiative that we proudly support.”
