On Saturday 9 February, Private Property descended en masse on Midmar Dam to support its 12 swimmers in the Midmar Mile race. As a company, we raised more than R50 000, which is being used to purchase wheelchairs for underprivileged disabled children.
Justin Clarke, our CEO, who is himself a paraplegic, swam the mile twice - once in the disabled race and the second time with his team. He says: “So often we are called on to help people in need and it is difficult to find causes that matter, where our donations can be leveraged to achieve something that really makes a difference. Millions of rands are raised every year for charities and NGOs to try to meet this demand. But there are those who are forgotten because they are at the bottom of the food chain. These are people from poor communities who live with serious disabilities.”
We are working with the Extra Mile organisation, in association with an NPO called Khethiwe, to distribute the wheelchairs. Khethiwe’s founder, Glenys, recounts this story, which really puts her efforts into perspective:
“A new mother came to my rehabilitation group today with her 16-year-old son, Siyabonga. To get there she had walked about three kilometres carrying Siyabonga on her back. It was only when I took them home afterwards that I realised how far she had travelled with him - a tall but very thin teen. I have never seen such a tall child being carried on a mother’s back. This is why I do what I do, so that things don’t get to this stage. It was devastating! Thank you so very much for your efforts in helping this cause. It helps to give us the strength to carry on.”
Our Midmar Mile fundraising effort is not the only corporate social investment initiative we have planned for year. A recent internal survey showed that our staff are passionate about participating in, mostly sports, events to raise for children’s charities. This result is in line with our long-standing support of LIV village, a first-of-its-kind project that provides holistic residential care for vulnerable children with the core vision to “rescue a child, restore a life, raise a leader, and release a star”.
