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Ideas on what you can do with your 67 minutes

Reading Time: 10 minutes

Bikers for Mandela DayUnder the management of SAPA Yopa bikers Limpopo, supported by Harley Davidson Zambezi and Vodacom Limpopo region, Bikers for Mandela Day have an initiative made up of two legs. The first will take place on Saturday 13 July, meeting at Harley Davidson Zambezi and heading to Kwelobohloko Orphanage in Polokwane for site preparation and clearing of the grounds for fencing and a vegetable garden and donations for the orphanage. The second leg will take place on 18 July, where bikers will leave from the Mall of the North in Limpopo and head to the Kwelobohloko Orphanage in Polokwane and hand over the completed project. Having participated before, these “bikers with a cause” ride to take Nelson Mandela’s living legacy throughout South Africa.
All bikers are invited and encouraged to become involved. For more information, contact Alta Brown on 071 313 4623 or at altabrown.ctw@vodamail.co.za.
Cheesekids for HumanityThis non-profit volunteer youth movement, founded in 2007, has supported over 24 000 beneficiaries around the country. This year they will be activating a Community TakeOver in Atteridgeville. Based at the Atteridgeville Community Centre, volunteers can participate in the refurbishment of schools, creating a kiddies’ play area, soup kitchen and blanket donation drive, home-based care refurbishment and a sewing/knitting project.
Association for the Physically Disabled (APD)Also in the spirit of Mr Mandela himself, a passionate team of 10 South Africans – including an amputee, a schoolboy, three doctors, an APD manager, and businessmen and women – will start their climb of Kilimanjaro on Madiba’s birthday to raise awareness for the physically disabled. The project is sponsored by ZPC Hospitality Renovation Specialists and Cell C.
Follow the team on Facebook (Teamhopekili) and Twitter @Teamhopekili for news. For more information, contact Hendrien de Klerk on 083 419 0367 or email director@apdfreestate.co.za.
Tiger BrandsTiger Brands has joined forces with the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and the Department of Basic Education in a three-year partnership (2013-2015) to provide nutritional food parcels to learners from non-fee schools in the rural areas of South Africa. The Department of Basic Education has identified four schools that require support in the fight against food insecurity. Tiger Brands will distribute 2 500 food parcels to learners at Renaissance Secondary and Bonwaudi Primary schools in Musina, and Ngcedomhlophe and Inhlanhlayabebhuze Secondary Schools in the Pietermaritzburg area. Representatives from all three partners will be present on the day to hand over the parcels to the learners and their parents.
Meals on WheelsFounded in a private kitchen in East London in 1964, Meals on Wheels now has over 280 established service points around the country and is currently serving just over 10-million meals per annum to the aged and underprivileged of South Africa. Volunteers are needed to assist with some truly worthy projects, including preparing and delivering meals, packing parcels for the underprivileged, and make-overs of living quarters for the disadvantaged. Contact Michelle Wohlberg on 082 410 3576 or michelle@mealsonwheels.co.za to find out how you can get involved in these exceptionally worthwhile Mandela Day activities.
Room to ReadRoom to Read South Africa is an NGO that partners with local communities throughout the country to provide quality educational opportunities by establishing libraries in schools, creating local-language children’s books and implementing reading and writing instruction projects for foundation-phase teachers and learners. In aid of Nelson Mandela Day, Room to Read will be working with schools, provincial education departments and communities in Mpumalanga and Limpopo to establish 10 school libraries in these provinces. These school libraries will be dedicated to the Mandela Day Libraries Project and will be supported for three years; the support includes a number of tasks such as training, providing material, furniture, school-based monitoring and others. To find out how to become involved, contact Chris Mothupi on 012 346 8731 or chris.mothupi@roomtoread.org.
Stop Hunger Now Southern AfricaThis year, Stop Hunger Now Southern Africa – an international hunger relief agency that has been fulfilling its commitment to end hunger for over 15 years – was graciously donated an exhibition hall at the Sandton Convention Centre, and has planned some exciting activities. The plan is: 67 corporates are invited to bring along 67 employees (and/or clients) to package 6 700 meals in 67 minutes. A total of 448 900 meals will be packaged by the corporate sector. An additional production line will be set aside for individuals from the public to participate during each shift. The public are encouraged to attend and participate in a 67-minute shift.
Cape Town Stop Hunger Now SA, together with the Canal Walk Foundation, will involve 670 volunteers in packaging 67 000 meals on Mandela Day in the Canal Walk Centre Court to help needy children in the Western Cape. Canal Walk has generously donated the space and logistical support for the event, and companies are urged to sponsor teams of volunteers for the packaging event.
Pre-registration is essential – please contact Barry Mey on 011 872 2498 or barrym@stophungernowsa.org.
Pick ‘n PayPick n Pay will again join the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory to help South Africans answer Nelson Mandela’s call to “take action and inspire change”: from 1 July 2013 to 31 August 2013, Pick n Pay Supermarkets and Hypermarkets will have collection points for the public to drop off children’s books and DVDs for the Mandela Day Book Drive, which will later be donated to the Mandela Day Container Library initiative that is linked to the 94+ schools infrastructure project, an initiative that honours Mr Mandela’s 95th birthday and legacy by promoting education.
South Africans can assist by donating books and DVDs at the collection points in the front of their local Pick n Pay Super and Hyper stores. For more information, contact Kim Birkby on 011 856 7722.
Trek 4 MandelaRichard Mabaso, founder and CEO of the Imbumba Foundation, will also be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of Mandela Day, between 12 and 20 July 2013. The Imbumba Foundation is a registered non-profit organisation that aims to bring about social change in South Africa by providing investment and infrastructure to poor rural communities, and empowering and mentoring those who want to create better opportunities. The climb will highlight the plight facing young girls during their menstrual cycles. They miss up to 50 days of schooling every year due to menstruation-related challenges.
Everyone can become involved by contacting Richard Mabaso on 073 557 2189 or Lihle Mthethwa on 073 047 1078, from 12 to 21 July 2013.
Ekurhuleni East College (EEC)The Ekurhuleni East College (EEC) for Further Education and Training has committed to a 67-minute build-a-house project. EEC engineering students are building a house in Dunnottar, John Dube Village on the East Rand, aiming to instil in their students a sense of community and to inspire them to become caring citizens. The house will be completed and handed over on Nelson Mandela Day, 18 July 2013, to the selected beneficiary, which will be a child-headed home or an elderly-headed home with many dependents.
For more information on how to become involved, contact Cynthia Nzimande on 073 657 0602 or cynthian@eec.edu.za.
SAASAA is another great corporate that has come on board to support and give back: the national airline will be building eight Mandela Day libraries, and ensuring they have the support and training needed to run effectively. SAA has also committed to raising awareness through brand visibility, not only across South African airports but across Africa and internationally in the bustling hubs of New York, Washington, Frankfurt and London. SAA will also be carrying the message by branding all their aircraft, domestic and international, during Mandela month and for three months thereafter, to remind the world of the responsibility we all have to the less fortunate.
Kaya FMKaya FM has collaborated with the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory to host its 67km Relay for Mandela Day on Sunday 14 July at the Waterfall Estate polo fields. The Kaya FM 67km Relay puts the power of Kaya FM’s radio voice behind the legacy of Nelson Mandela’s most endearing principles of reconciliation, peace and education. The relay reaches out to corporates to assemble teams to participate in the relay, and thus create a fun team-building experience that also supports the Centre of Memory’s projects around education and legacy. Kaya FM aims to have 670 teams running, with a total of 6 700 runners in the field. This event will be held to further aid the Mandela Container Library project. For more information visit http://www.kayafm.co.za/event/67km-relay-for-mandela-day/.
Lead SALead SA has again pledged its support for Mandela Day and to the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory. As it has done in previous years, it will be assisting various schools where there is a need, and will continue to do so throughout the year. Lead SA has supported schools in various provinces; Bertrams Primary School is one of these and will again be so this year, with the focus being on literacy. The organisation will also embark on a campaign ahead of Mandela Day, to mobilise South Africans to volunteer 20 hours of community service in the run-up to 20 years of democracy in April next year. Citizens will be urged to use 67 minutes of their time on July 18 as the starting point of their 20 hours of volunteerism.
NedbankNedbank is focusing the majority of its Nelson Mandela Day initiatives on giving back to the Alexandra community, as well as hosting a fun day for the children of the Aganang Day Care Centre at the Nedbank head office in Sandton. Nedbank will be hosting several initiatives in Alexandra over the month of July that will entail giving back to several needy organisations in the area, by providing assistance with much-needed building makeovers, as well as spending time with underprivileged children and the elderly. These initiatives give Nedbank employees the opportunity to give back in the month of July, and contribute their 67 minutes.
The Methodist Church of SAIn celebration of Mandela Day and in honour of our great Madiba’s 95th birthday, the Methodist Church of SA has joined forces with child and youth care centres across the country. The “Kans for Kids” campaign will attempt to set a new Guinness world record by gathering cans and dry goods to lay out in a food chain that is measurable – and hopefully the longest ever in Africa, maybe even the world.The aim is to bring relief to the impoverished in the heart of winter. The food will be used to feed children and families in the care of the Methodist Church. Everyone from schools, churches and businesses are invited to become involved on 18 July.
Randfontein African National Congress Parliamentary Constituency OfficeIn 2011 the Randfontein African National Congress Parliamentary Constituency Office built a house in aid of Nelson Mandela Day, which was given to a beneficiary of the Randfontein constituency. The PCO has further decided to expand this initiative and build three houses this year in the month of July – for Nelson Mandela Day. For more information, contact Morapedi Machakela on 079 498 9949.
The South African Reading FoundationThe South African Reading Foundation, which runs the Read a Book SA project, will be encouraging its followers to read to kids in their families for 67 minutes, take a picture of them engaging in this activity then send it to @ReadabookSA on Twitter. The organisation will retweet these pictures to its followers. The South African Books Development Council estimates that only 5% of parents in South Africa read books to their kids. Parents play a vital role in developing the habits of their children from birth until they are 11 years old, and this initiative aims to alleviate this problem and grow a culture of reading and encouraging children to read. For more information, contact Tebogo Ditshego on 011 513 3496 or ceo@ditshegomedia.co.za.

Wednesday 10 July 2013 09:47

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