Break the Mould and Make Christmas Matter

GreaterGood South Africa is urging South Africans to make this Christmas different by choosing gifts that will change lives. Make Christmas Matter, sponsored by the Cadiz Foundation, is an annual call-to-action campaign offering a range of alternative Christmas gifts to help people make a difference at this special time of year.

“Christmas should be about more than just turkey and a pile of presents under the tree,” says GreaterGood SA’s managing director, Carol Tappenden. “It should be about spending time with loved ones and giving in the true sense of the word.”

Make Christmas Matter gives you the chance to break the mould and give this Christmas some real meaning. Browse and buy great Christmas ‘gifts’ quickly and securely online at www.makechristmasmatter.co.za and then personalise your own gift cards to send to friends, family, colleagues or business associates explaining how the gifts are helping to change lives in South Africa.

Make Christmas Matter has a high-impact gift to suit every pocket, like:

• A new school uniform for an orphaned child for R250.
• Vitamins for a person living with HIV or AIDS for R50.
• Materials to help a small entrepreneur package their products attractively for R250.
• Organic farming training for a subsistence farmer for R500.
• Stationery for a rural school child for R50.
• Food for an orphaned baby baboon for R100.
• An income generating township veggie garden for R5,000.

All the gifts support carefully selected projects working towards the eradication of poverty in South Africa. Make Christmas Matter uses the GreaterGood SA intensive assessment processto select the projects that will benefit. This includes peer review panels, site visits, a comprehensive organisation and risk assessment, research, evaluation and detailed reporting.

“When you buy a Make Christmas Matter gift, you can be sure that your festive contribution will make a real difference, to real people and communities, facing very real problems in South Africa,” continues Tappenden. The gifts are chosen from approved project budgets in priority development sectors including Boosting Basic Healthcare, Caring for Children, Generating Livelihoods, Improving Education and Supporting Animal Protection.

This is the fourth year that GreaterGood SA will run the successful Make Christmas Matter campaign with the generous support of the Cadiz Foundation. Since it started in 2005, Make Christmas Matter has raised almost R1.5m for 17 development projects ranging from a child immunisation programme in the Northern Cape to a community environmental education drive on the East Rand.

Cookies for Christmas

Celebrated chef, Reuben Riffel, has created a special cookie recipe in support of GreaterGood SA’s Make Christmas Matter campaign in 2008. Reuben’s delicious Make Christmas Matter Coconut Cookie recipe will encourage South Africans to make this Christmas really matter.

“GreaterGood SA is trying to get people to think differently about Christmas,” says Riffel from his Franschhoek restaurant, Reuben’s. “And how much more special would Christmas be if we could help those less fortunate than ourselves?”

Visit www.makechristmasmatter.co.za to get the recipe.

Make Christmas Matter is an annual GreaterGood SA public call-to-action campaign offering a range of alternative Christmas gifts to help South Africans make a difference at this special time of year.

For more information contact Roxy Mitchell, Public Relations, GreaterGood SA on (021) 794-0580, or visit www.makechristmasmatter.co.za