By Loushe Jordaan Gilbert
The Voice of the Cape’s office was left busy as staff came together to pack bags and bags of luxury items in our quest to make sure that one thousand children in the Parkwood area receive a sweet treat this Thursday.
As part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for the month of November, we aim to feed four thousand residents in the area at Masjidus- Sabr.
Speaking to Riedwaan Blake, Administrator for the Bucket of Joy initiative and Masjidus- Sabr, he shared his gratitude stating tonight will be a milestone in their community.
“The Voice of the Cape supporting us means that we can now feed our entire community in one go, we usually do it in stages because there are so many people and we are not by the means to feed everyone at once, but tonight we will be feeding our entire community, Alhamdulillah. Parkwood faces so many social ills, but having people like the VOC come out restoring hope and basically showing our people they matter, that is something huge to us,” he said.
VOC’s CSR Representative Loushe Jordaan Gilbert said the support from the community at large and the sponsors were overwhelming as people came out in their numbers eager to donate.
“When the team decided on what we would do for the month, we committed to feeding 2000 people on our end and handing out one thousand party packs, but we only had R10 000 at our disposal. Initially, I panicked but after a while things came together and it once again shows that when your intention is pure and you’re doing something not for fame and fortune, the Almighty will truly open doors that you never even knocked on,” she said.
Furthermore, VOC’s sponsors have been so generous with Things on Wheel donating fifty packed party packs, SANZAF gave two hundred packed party packs, 1-UP Cash and Carry provided more than R12 000 worth of items from chips, to lollipops, Rondebosch East Toyota will provide a vehicle to cart our goodies from the VOC station to Parkwood at no cost and they gave an additional R 5 000 towards the initiative, last but not least the listeners opened their purses and just dropped off things they thought would be useful for a party pack and of course all those anonymous donors, may Allah reward you in abundance and continue to bless you Insha Allah, Ameen.
Newly appointed VOC Journalist Ragheema Mclean who witnessed the team working together for the very first time said she was completely overjoyed being able to be part of a station that has so much potential and staff members who went above and beyond to make sure everything was packed and ready to be dropped off.
“I am very happy to be a part of an organisation that still manages to use funds to make sure that our people on the ground can benefit in terms of getting a meal to eat or just making a young child feel special when getting a party pack. We find ourselves in very tough economic times and seeing people come together the way they have, it’s something I will carry with me forever,” she added.
