Media24 personnel put on their aprons and plastic gloves and took out the butter knives on Mandela Day, 18 July, with only one goal in mind: making sandwiches for 24 community projects around the country to help ease the hunger of thousands of people a little.
"We were looking for a simple, but impressive project which could really make a difference in people's lives," said Adrie Jurgensen, Media24 Group CSI coordinator, "and adapted FoodBank's concept of a 'jamming session' as a team building and outreach project for staff. So our Jamming for Madiba project was born and the buy-in and support we have received was fantastic."
Prof Jakes Gerwel, Media24 chairman and chairman of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Mandela Rhodes Foundation, celebrity chef David Grier and Thulani Lali, professional sandwich maker from Indibano Café, set the example by giving 67 minutes of their time to spread bread at the Naspers Centre in Cape Town. They quickly had the help of 12 teams of Media24 internal staff, including
Die Burger,
Beeld,
Sarie,
Fair Lady,
Kuier,
On the Dot,
TV Plus,
Move, building management, corporate finance, people management and Media24 IT, who gave up their lunch time to "jam" at their offices countrywide.
The goal was to make 6 700 sandwiches within 67 minutes benefiting 24 charities. In the end over 10 000 were made.
In the Western Cape the Cape Town Multi Service Centre in Salt River has been identified as the main recipient of the sandwiches made in Cape Town today. Secondary beneficiaries included the Kleine Groepe play school in Elsiesrivier, Clark Estate Primary, the elderly in Elsies River, Kabouter Drome play school in Bonteheuwel, Klipfontein Primary in Bonteheuwel a senior citizen group and a shelter in Salt River.
Donors including Sasko, PioneerFoods, BigBox Containers, Supreme Poultry, Woolworths, Black Cat peanut butter, Red Hot Events and Indibano helped to make this initiative possible.
The sandwiches made at Media Park in Johannesburg were distributed to the Bumbanani childhood pre-school in George Coch informal settlement, the Denver Community Creche, Falcon Private school, MES feeding scheme and Tswelopele Frail Care in Hillbrow.
The sandwiches made at Media House in Durban went to the Sibusisiwe Community Project, which prepare meals three times a week to feed over 300 individual families in the community of Umlazi and the Vukani Community Project which serves elderly, physically and mentally disabled members of the community.
Volunteers from Media24 at the Ton Vosloo Media Centre in Port Elizabeth made sandwiches for distribution to the Coega Door of Hope childrens' home, Sinethemba childrens home, Sheekom shelter for women and children, Malabar home for the aged and the Maranatha Street Workers Trust.
"Today shelters, preschools, day centres, homes for the frail and aged, HIV/Aids clinics and community centres were fed, but our biggest success will be to convince and show each individual in South Africa how they can make a meaningful difference every day with something as simple as a sandwich," said Jurgensen after the massive team effort.
