The Johannesburg office completed its Day of Giving Back activity on Saturday, April 13. The office had 100% staff participation, and were joined by 23 additional volunteers. Johannesburg’s Day of Giving Back efforts will run for nearly two months, ranging from March to May 2019.
The team worked together to support a clothing drive in cooperation with Clothes to Good (C2G), a South African hybrid social enterprise. North Highland’s support with C2G began in March with a clothes drive, which will be held through mid-May. Clothes collected during the drive will be provided to C2G. C2G employs the disadvantaged or disabled in the processing and sorting of the clothes. Clothes in re-sellable condition are then provided to micro-businesses in the community, typically run by mothers with disabled children. Clothes not suitable for this are upcycled by the C2G team into toys that are provided to early childhood development centers throughout South Africa.
This enterprise creates jobs for the disadvantaged and disabled by creating an economic empowerment opportunity via the micro-businesses that re-sell the clothes to disadvantaged communities throughout South Africa. This is critically important, as the unemployment rate among the disabled in South Africa exceeds 95%. Further, there is a severe shortage of childcare for children with any disabilities, typically meaning mothers of disabled children are unable to work. The micro-businesses created through this channel afford these mothers the chance to earn a living wage while caring for their children.
Aside from this critical support, C2G provides a contribution based on the amount of clothes collected, which North Highland South Africa will use in support of Early Childhood Development efforts in Diepsloot, a large township near the office with an extremely high poverty and unemployment rate.
Additionally on April 13, the office participated in a meal packing event at Rise Against Hunger, an international non-profit focused on supplying nutritious meals and ending hunger globally. The team, along with volunteers from the community, packed nearly 50,000 meals. In addition to fulfilling needs within South Africa, some of these meals are destined to areas of neighboring Mozambique which were devastated by a tropical cyclone in March. After that, the team participated with C2G in a clothes upcycling workshop. During the workshop, the team produced over 100 toys for use in early childhood development centers in Diepsloot.
Additional information on C2G can be found at: www.c2cx.co.za. C2G achieved first place in South Africa’s SAB Foundation disability empowerment awards on 11 October 2018. The organization was also awarded a grant from the Google Impact Challenge in South Africa in November 2018.
Additional information on Rise Against Hunger can be found at: www.riseagainsthunger.org.