Clothing and blanket drive to help keep families warm
The Charity Collection Drive bins to place blankets and children’s clothing will be available until mid-October
South Africans are being encouraged to join the drive to warm the nation and donate new or clean, previously loved blankets and children’s clothing into collection boxes placed at 45 Pick n Pay Clothing stores across the country.
This new Clothing and Blanket Drive see Pick n Pay partner with Operation Smile South Africa, SOS Children’s Villages and Rays of Hope to lead a clothing and blanket drive. Locally Pick n Pay Clothing in Highveld Mall is part of this initiative.
“Every three minutes a child is born with a cleft lip, cleft palate, or both. This statistic doesn’t change – even during a global pandemic. We recognise that our communities need more than surgical support during this current pandemic, and through this initiative with Pick n Pay, we are hoping to help keep our children and vulnerable people warm too. Partnering with other NPOs is key right now for strengthening nationwide support, and we are so excited to have SOS Children’s Villages and Rays of Hope as the additional beneficiaries,” says Lauren Bright, Country Manager at Operation Smile.
“Many South Africans are experiencing hardship and by creating partnerships such as this, we can collectively make a greater difference in communities,” says Suzanne Ackerman-Berman, transformation director at Pick n Pay.
She adds that their Feed the Nation campaign is proof of what can be achieved with strong collaboration.
Working with customers and organisations, over 18 million meals have been donated to those most in need since lockdown started through this campaign.
The Charity Collection Drive bins to place blankets and children’s clothing will be available until mid-October.
DHL Supply Chain and DHL Express have also partnered in the initiative and will collect all donations from stores and deliver them to beneficiaries of Operation Smile, SOS Children’s Villages and Rays of Hope.
Customers can also pledge a direct donation to Operation Smile by scanning the Snap Scan or Zapper code at PnP Clothing till points at participating stores.
Ray of Hope – which looks after families in Alexandra Township – says they are hugely grateful to be a beneficiary.
“We have been based in Alexandra for almost 30 years and work with a network of organisations in the area so we know that the donated items will be equitably distributed to the most vulnerable people. We’re excited about bringing hope to Alex in this way,” says Mr Sihle Mooi, CEO Rays of Hope.
“This partnership will benefit our children who are growing up loved and valued in SOS programmes,” says Patrick Kulati – National Director SOS Children’s Villages SA.
“As part of our global drive to give back to local communities, DHL actively embraces its Social Responsibility efforts throughout South Africa and around the world. With many vulnerable children and disadvantaged families currently in need during the Covid-19 pandemic, DHL Supply Chain and DHL Express are excited to join forces once again in order to support this initiative by providing the logistics needs required,” says Jarryd Pretorius, Communications, Marketing & CSI Lead: Africa: DHL Supply Chain.
