collaboration

KZN Relief Project Closeout & Thank You

Kolisi Foundation x KZN Relief Project Closeout and Thank You

In May 2022, in response to the devastating KZN Floods that swept through the metropole, we were able to collectively raise R1 028 295.00 toward food relief for those impacted and displaced by the floods. Through the
generous contributions of our key partners – the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, The Domino Foundation*, KFC Add Hope, Hollywood Foundation, and Feed the Nation Foundation, as well as members of the
public – we provided 155 Community Kitchen Hampers to 61 Community Halls opened up to house evacuees across the city. These parcels are substantial, containing 450kgs of food each, including staples, oil,
spices, and fresh produce. Our collective response resulted in over 69 tonnes of food distributed over 5 weeks from April 21-May 27, 2022.

As is the case in disaster scenarios, it is difficult to estimate how many individuals were served through these distributions, but our distribution partners on the ground, The Domino Foundation and the KZN Disaster
Response Team, put initial estimates at 5779 internally displaced persons housed in the community halls.
In addition to our ongoing commitments to KZN households through our existing partnerships, we were able to extend an extra 190 Household Hampers (totaling R152 000.00) to Denis Hurley Center and Philakade Care
Home between May and September to provide ongoing household-level relief to households impacted by the floods.

We simply could not have mobilised as powerfully as we did without the generosity of our funding partners, the logistical support and distribution capacity of Boxer Superstores and Feed the Nation Foundation, and the on the
ground activation of The Domino Foundation and the KZN Disaster Response Team. Thank you for joining us in responding with care and compassion to alleviate the impact of this disaster in KZN.

*R450 000.00 of this was raised independently through The Domino Foundation’s partners. These funds were sent to Kolisi Foundation to purchase additional Community Kitchen hampers through our partnership with Boxer and Feed the Nation, adding to the total number of parcels we could mobilize.

Our Partners

The Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project
KZN Disaster Response Team
Feed the Nation Foundation
The Domino Foundation
Hollywood Foundation
Boxer Superstores
KFC Add Hope
General Public

Thank you for partnering with us. We could not have mobilised as powerfully as we did without you.

Read more

2022 race done & dusted

The content below is the Thank you email sent today from the Race Organisers

Hi again aQuellé Tour Durban rider!

Thanks for being part of a great aQuellé Tour Durban this weekend! The special vibe was a hallmark of the MTB races on Saturday and the three road races on Sunday.

We did encounter an unexpected problem when the first batch of 90km riders caught up with the back of the 106km race on the M4, and this resulted in our marshalls being unable to move the barriers marking the 90km turn into place as planned. We fully understand the frustration that this caused, and we apologise sincerely for this.

Many have take this in their stride, and we appreciate that attitude.

Racetec has decided NOT to take these results into account for these participants’ seeding index. For those riders that were affected on the day, and who have also entered the Amashova Durban Classic, RaceTec has agreed to identify these riders, and make the necessary arrangements to assist them during the Amashova Durban Classic registration to ensure that they all end up in the correct start batch. If the riders do qualify to start in an earlier batch, Racetec will make the adjustments at the event registration.

If you have concerns regarding the results and your time, and how it may affect your seeding for future events, please take it up with Race Tec directly by emailing info@racetec.co.za.

As always, we appreciate constructive suggestions, and welcome your input. Click here to make contact with us.

Above all, thank you from The Domino Foundation for the part you played in the ongoing support they get from the aQuellé Tour Durban.

“We at The Domino Foundation see our key calling as bringing dignity, hope and social justice to marginalised and vulnerable communities through education, economic and enterprise development partnerships. Through our seven programmes, we are currently impacting the lives of some 15,000 individuals each day. We are very grateful to aQuellé Tour Durban for their amazing support through their generous donations year after year to our work to change one individual at a time, so that communities are changed and, ultimately, our country is changed.”

Shaun Tait – CEO – The Domino Foundation

Video Gallery 2022

Photo Gallery – 2022 Road races

Photo Gallery – 2022 MTB Races

Read more

Common Hearts Alleviate Suffering

The relationship between Durban’s Jewish community and the Domino Foundation has been nurtured over many years.  For several years, a faithful band of ladies from the Union of Jewish Women gathered each week in the foundation’s kitchens to assemble a small mountain of peanut butter sandwiches for its Nutrition Programme.

In 2016, the trans-global network for 25 to 35-year-old Jewish volunteers working in local communities, partnered with Domino to establish its first South African centre. After the devastation the raging flood waters wreaked in April and May this year, the KZN Jewish community once again rallied to the call.  “The KZN Jewish community truly appreciates the outstanding work which the Domino Foundation does within the greater community and we look forward to continuing our journey in making a difference for those who are less fortunate,” said Susan Abro, President of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies KwaZulu-Natal Council, where she handed over the funds raised by the community to the Domino Foundation and the Robin Hood Foundation at the Durban Jewish Club, near North Beach earlier this month.

The Durban Jewish Club is the heart and home of the KZN Jewish community, and also houses the Durban Holocaust and Genocide Centre, where thousands of KZN school children receive free education about the Holocaust and various genocides each year. In addition The Domino Foundation was selected as an agent e working alongside Susan Abro, who is a partner of Afrika Tikkun for their Reviving Township Economy Campaign, to revive businesses affected by the civil unrest of July 2021 in KZN and Gauteng and by the recent floods, one business at a time.

Domino’s Donor Relations Ambassador’ Tarin Stevenson, described how the funds donated would be used. “The immediate needs of many affected by the floods have been met. We are now looking at how we can come alongside those tackling the rebuilding process. Obviously, a significant portion of this rebuilding is in the area of physical infrastructure…homes, schools and businesses have been destroyed. We would like to start with those ECD Centres in our fold so that children can be learning in a safe and dry environment.”

 

Unity commands a blessing

Cindy Norcott founder of of the Robin Hood Foundation, Liezel Patterson – secretary of the Jewish Club, Susan Abro (centre), President of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies KwaZulu-Natal Council, with The Domino Foundation’s  CEO, Shaun Tait, and Donor Relations Manager, Tarin Stevenson at the handing-over of the Jewish community’s donation of R54 000 each to the two NPOs.

Read more

Making a difference … being the difference

“Teach us, good Lord…to give and not to count the cost,”…part of Spanish theologian Ignatius of Loyola’s well-known prayer sums up the true heart of what it means to be a volunteer. In a nutshell, a volunteer is someone who is willing to give their time or their talent for the benefit of others, with no thought of personal gain or pay-back. There are others not in a position to do either of these and so dig into their ‘treasure’ to be a vital part in the relieving of the suffering of others.

The spirit of volunteering has been on jaw-dropping display over the past few months as literally thousands have flocked to lend a proverbial hand to lighten the plight of those whose lives were devastatingly interrupted by April’s flooding.

One of the many established disaster relief collaborations, the KZN Response Unit, (a partnership of NPOs: The Domino Foundation, Zoe Life, City Hope Disaster, The South African Red Cross and The KZN Christian Council) once again rallied to alleviate the dire consequences of the calamity. The partnership operated like a well-oiled machine, having together adapted and navigated the Covid-19 pandemic, the destruction caused by the July 2021 KZN civil unrest, as well as many other disasters – shack fires, xenophobic unrest, tornados and other natural and man-made crises. Its impact on all of these has been significant. However, it was the willingness of volunteers to roll up their which ensured that much of the help and relief aid was able to reach those most desperately needing it.

The statistics of what was donated, packed and distributed in the weeks after the deluge tore through communities, were staggering. Esther Madikane, The Domino Foundation’s Volunteer Manager, listed 6,135 food and hygiene parcels, 184 tonnes of food aid, 40,385 litres of drinking water, 212 bags of clothing, a tower of 2,633 blankets and an even bigger mountain of 2,326 mattresses. “But,” she adamantly said, “we would never have coped with moving it all out of the various national superlinks and partnering vehicles, with manoeuvring forklifts to shift laden pallets, packing dried foodstuffs into relief hampers, without the small armies of volunteers who appeared every day to serve at the Domino offices in Durban North and Amazimtoti.”

Esther shared countless stories of homegroups from churches who came in to serve, corporate businesses rallying together as community outreach activations, staff who took leave to lend a hand, many young and energetic school learners who took the opportunity to put tangible meaning to their community service hours, and the elderly folk who abandoned their morning tea times for the hive of humanity working to bring aid to those in need. “We were seeing between 12 and 30 volunteers every day receiving donations and sending them out within the day.”

It is really a double win when a volunteer responds to the call to serve in an emergency, and then signs up to be committed for the long haul. All of the partnering NPOs in the KZN Response Unit have opportunities for volunteers to get involved in their ongoing community work. Built on what we read in Matthew’s gospel that we will always have the poor, needy and destitute with us, Domino’s programmes provide many opportunities for people wanting to give of their valuable time. The Babies’ Home welcomes volunteers who like to get down to the little people’s levels to play, sing and read stories – all vital input into the formative first 1,000 days of a vulnerable child’s life, many of whom have been abandoned and who crave gentle loving one-on-one attention. The Nutrition Programme, in its regular routine, hosts shifts of sandwich-makers to ply their peanut butter knives to assemble the thousands of high-protein ‘sarmies’ which go out of a daily basis to partnering primary schools, ECD centres and other learning establishments. With many young Ethekwini citizens, whose homes and schools were damaged or destroyed by the raging waters, and now sheltering in community halls, small tummies are still hungry and need to be fed. Whether it’s a time of predictable routine or a contingency like the present one, Cathy Whittle and Cheryl Dann, who head up the Durban North and South Nutrition teams respectively, are always keen to have would-be makers-of-sandwiches contact them.

Domino’s Marketing Storyteller, Karen Brokensha, spoke about how the #everyONEaddONE campaign rolled out earlier this year has had an unexpected and extraordinary boost from the post-floods call to action: “We have been asking all existing Domino’s friends and supporters to refer just one friend, family member, colleague, church, business or local/international funder to the Foundation so that we could double our impact this year. What has happened in the space of two months is that we have had a number of new volunteers, people who have never been involved with Domino or been on our property before, or weren’t previously active in making a difference in the lives of the people we are working with. We welcome them as they stay on as Domino ambassadors as volunteers in one of our programmes.”

Karen went on to describe how people with specialised skills have also been offering their talents as well as their time: “We had a medical student who took time out from her studies in Tshwane to travel down to Durban, and an optometrist who offered her services. A group of avid artists in Cape Town are putting their creations up for auction to raise money for us to help beneficiaries, and a Health Science and Social Services graduate specialising in community and health psychology has come forward to be a part of the Foundation’s work with survivors of human-trafficking.”

What about people using their treasure as part of volunteering ? Crowded schedules, and to a degree, for many local and regular volunteers, physical city logistics and water-damaged roads made it impossible for many to be hands-on volunteers. Instead, they dug deep into their pockets or reached out to their extensive networks to link in so that community needs could be met. Again, generosity of hearts was the key. A Johannesburg coffee outlet sent out the appeal to its faithful tribe of caffeine addicts who donated 8 tonnes of relief aid which was sent to KZN…and they were only one group out of many that reached out and sharied their storehouses to be part of the band of helping hands.

All too often, self-interest often takes precedence over all other considerations. However, there are over one billion people who volunteer in one way or another across the globe. These volunteers (in whatever way they may be giving of themselves) are showing compassion and demonstrating humanity at its best. They are also finding that, in giving, they are receiving: their volunteering connects them to others, making them diverse new friends and sharpening their social conscience skills. Another added benefit of volunteering is that the mind and body are positively impacted: stress, anger, anxiety and depression are reduced, and research, which has measured hormones and brain activity, has shown that going beyond oneself to help others gives a deep sense of satisfaction.

Esther gave a call to would-be volunteers when she said: “Every NPO in the post flood-relief is grateful for all the individuals who have given in any way over the past weeks.” She encouraged them to consider volunteering on an ongoing basis. She emphasized the fact that, as lives are rebuilt, it is easy to think that all is now well, but great needs remain. She said that each of the partnering NPOs in KZN Response would welcome willing hands looking for ways to carry on reaching out and being agents of change.”

KZN Response partners can be reached on:Domino Foundation 031 5639605 or volunteer@domino.org.zZoe Life 031 267 0080 or info@zoe-life.co.zaCity Hope 086 11 22 331 or admin@cityhope.co.za

Photos from Left to Right. Top to Bottom.

Mrs South African finalist Nadia Aboud, helping with the babies in the home

After the looting – cleaning up the streets

Meals for those in need – buckets for distribution

#everyONEaddONE – the power of our building a bigger network of helping hands and hearts

School girls making sandwiches for Nutrition Programme

Read more

The lens of a lady with a big heart

While she was scrolling through Facebook, a post on Amanzimtoti Trader’s page caught Thandeka Duma’s eye. In the post, a group of ladies who had volunteered to help The Domino Foundation’s Nutrition programme in the South Basin area were being thanked by the programme’s project leader, Cheryl Dann. Thandeka seized the opportunity and commented that she would be keen to see if Domino could help her with her initiative to feed hungry young members of her community in Illovu Township. So began a relationship which has flourished ever since.

Back in 2015, Thandeka was very concerned at the number of children passing her house each morning on their way to school without having had anything to eat before they had left home. She discovered that some of the children had sometimes not had a decent meal for several days and yet were determined to get to school. She couldn’t ignore their plight. Initially, she started feeding about fifty of them from her own kitchen.  Inevitably, the news got out and it wasn’t long before Thandeka was inundated with hungry schoolchildren. Now she couldn’t cope on her own and needed assistance to help these young community members in desperate need.

The Domino Foundation’s Nutrition programme was the answer to her prayer. With the help of the programme’s Amanzimtoti’s kitchen, Thandeka is now able to feed as many as 150 children, providing them with protein-high sandwiches. Food hampers provided through the Nutrition programme also pass through Thandeka’s hands to fifty gogos caring for abandoned and orphaned children, and to other destitute families.

Her operation has grown so that, with the help of some ladies from the community, she is now able to provide a safe space for some of the children who come in the afternoon after school. Some extra mural activities are laid on for the children and they are helped with their homework. Thandeka creates an informal atmosphere where casual talk can take place while the children eat their sandwiches and chat with this wonderful mother to the community about vital life issues.  This operation is now formally established as the Young Stars Nutrition and Development Centre and is a beacon of hope to many in the Illovu Township in Amanzimtoti.

Thandeka is adamant about how her life has been impacted by the relationship which has grown between the Centre and the Domino Toti programme: “My life has changed and so have the lives of so many children in this community… they have hope and a sense of purpose.” She notices how, with full tummies, the pupils happily go off to school and are able to apply themselves to their work. Absenteeism and truancy have lessened significantly at the local schools because the sandwiches Thandeka provides are a great incentive first to get a meal and then to go on to their classes.

The Young Stars Nutrition and Development Centre has become a haven way beyond merely being a feeding stop-off. The children feel secure there and Thandeka and her team are able to encourage good habits and community-mindedness and to help the children build dreams for their futures. Many of these young people come from homes where the lifestyle is very much hand-to-mouth and where there is little thought beyond today’s challenges. “I help them see that there is a future for themselves and how their prospects are improved if they develop good study habits now.”

Never one to feel that she has ‘arrived’, Thandeka has opened a take-away called ‘Good Shandis (or ‘Vibes’) Kitchen’. This provides home-cooked meals which can be bought and frozen. From her profits, she has been able to buy a freezer and to add a room to her house to serve as a kitchen for cooking and baking, enhancing her ability to reach out and help vulnerable members of the Ilovu community.

This extraordinary woman combines her passion for her community and amazing entrepreneurial skills to impact many lives. She is very humble about how it is God’s hand which has opened the doors for her enterprises in Illovu Township: “God has always looked after me. I pray for this very poor community and it was Him who led me to see Cheryl’s post on Facebook and to our establishing our wonderfully fruitful relationship.  He is always there for me.”

Caption: Thandeka Duma featured with the Domino Amazimtoti Team – Cheryl and Purity.

Read more

Looking back | Flying forward

REFLECTING ON 2021

Musing on the year that the world has just left behind, Domino CEO, Shaun Tait, described the past twelve months as “a wild ride.” Balancing all the vital elements of Domino’s work – cash flow, emergency relief, staff and beneficiaries’ welfare, among others – had been a challenge. The journey through 2021 had seen the contingencies thrown out by the ever changing Covid protocols and then the devastating civil unrest in July 2021, adding a disproportionate level of uncertainty through KZN and Gauteng.

But, the demands of the unexpected and unprecedented landscape saw far greater collaboration and partnerships with other Non Profit Organisations, which enabled Domino to punch far above its weight. “We found that we had much greater reach and impact working together. Each organisation bringing its own strengths to the collective effort, and so we could achieve more than if we had tried to reach out on our own, in order to help so many people in desperate need.” Shaun said, that the NPO had realised that it is undoubtedly true that “Domino wins, when its partners win”. It was very clear through 2021 that, through partnering with other strategic NPO’s and working closely with each other, there was elimination of needless duplication and wastage, and many more beneficiaries were helped to move out of the cycle of poverty and hopelessness, into dignity and hopefullness.

Throughout 2021 we engaged with over 230 organisations from across KZN to co-ordinate and provide support in the most efficient way, to thousands of beneficiates across the province. From a beneficiary point of view, the table and graph below shows the expansion of our programme, tracking back from 2014 through to 2021. We noticed steady, incremental increases between 2016 – 2019, with higher growth from 2020 onwards, which was maintained and expanded on in 2021.

Figures in brackets count indirect beneficiaries i.e. Additional household members supported), Domino focuses on counting only direct beneficiaries for totals supported (e.g. If a food hamper can support 4 HH (household) members, we will record this as 1 beneficiary and make a note of the additional 3 in brackets.

 

 

From a Volunteer perspective, we had a 58% increase in volunteerism in 2021, when compared to 2020. If we track our volunteers over time, although we are still below 2019 figures, we are gradually recovering from the lockdowns that prevented people from engaging directly with our programmes and in 2022, we are aiming to surpass 2019.

 

 

Lastly, looking at our pre-audited financial results, the trend of decreased community development spending continued into 2021 as donors shifted funding towards Nutrition, Humanitarian Aid and Business Relief (largely due to the riots in July 2021).

Our goal for 2022 is to increase support of our Social Justice programmes (Abandoned Babies Home & Red Light Anti-Human-Trafficking) as well as going to drive the importance of quality education.

All in all, 2021 was an exceptional year, wrapping up a 2 year ‘wild ride’, which, thanks to our partners, donors and volunteers, provides an incredible spring board into 2022.

RE-VISIONING 2022 – 2025

During the annual Domino Visioning Week, which took place at the start of 2022, the team revisited the challenge of what its mission in the year ahead should look like. The trajectory which had been established the previous year was one which Shaun described as one of “building and muscling”.  Significant growth had happened despite, and maybe because of, the enormous challenges faced and all the programmes had been expanded and Domino’s reach significantly extended. None of this has been taken for granted and it is acknowledged that it would not have been possible without the crucial role donors, sponsors and partners played. The ‘stronger together’ mantra remains vital in 2022 as Domino moves forward to its long-term goal of doubling its impact by 2025.

Concrete steps must be taken this year towards the targets of the:

  • elimination of abandonment and
  • zero hunger and malnourishment
  • eradication of bondage, slavery and exploitation, and
  • provision of quality education for all and
  • access to decent employment for all in South Africa

Shaun emphasised that Domino is committed to working with communities to build a resilience into those communities and the ability to withstand and navigate the fallout disasters bring. Vulnerable people need to be supported as they are empowered to throw off a victim mentality and find they have the capacity to rise above their circumstances. “We want to push ahead with our vision to ‘Add One’ in every area of Domino’s activities as we embark on our “+1 CAMPAIGN” one more donor, one more volunteer, one more beneficiary, one more partner. That’s the way we will see this year being a vital step in moving towards having twice our present impact by 2025.”

Currently, as we sit and forecast income and efforts in 2022, we have secured commitment from existing partners to the value of R7.3M (which we are trusting and praying that these partners can fulfil these commitments and are also extremely thankful for their pledged support) The outstanding funding required. for the rest of the year, across all programmes, sits at a further R5.1M needed in 2022.

“Domino wins, when its partners win” Shaun Tait, CEO, The Domino Foundation

We will be sharing more programme secific goals for 2022 in the coming weeks as the teams hit the ground, ready to ‘build muscle’, continue with acts of mercy, fight for justice and see more people living with dignity, justice, hope and purpose.

*These totals are pre-audit figures and may change slightly once our audit is complete. Our audits are currently underway and these figures will be updated when complete.

Read more

Collaborate & Prepare

The second and third quarter of 2020 can best be described as COVID chaos, a kaleidoscope of mass donations and regional distributions, days/nights and weekends. Every 24 hours passed in a flurry of receipts, delivery notes, invoices and beneficiary lists. The phones rang off the hook and the emails and Facebook post requests poured in.

The JOCC (Joint Operations Command Centre) became our second homes and daily Zoom calls with the KZN Disaster Response Team was vital shot of directional sanity.

Here is a link to the stats – the beneficiary numbers, areas and impact which is a powerful account for our collaborative efforts

This manic pace, soon eased into a steady flow of logistics and check lists, improved communication, shared workloads, WhatsApp Groups, LEANS and churches working together, new collaborations and more hands and feet on deck to help as more of the other programme staff came back onsite to work.

We strategized who needed what and who was in fact was presenting as the “most vulnerable” including the “new vulnerable”. This helped us update our beneficiary lists and to assist/ create sustainable impact into those that most need food relief and support.

It is an ongoing programme that is slowing down as people settle into a new ‘normal’ and various stakeholders, churches and corporates play their parts more proactively in Alert Level 1 of Lockdown. We have moved into a phase of ‘Preparedness’ for the Summer Rains and potential Shack Fires that normally take place in the final quarter of each year 

Cath Whittle also heads up The Domino Disaster Response Unit and was nominated as a News 24 Every Day Hero

WARNING !

The pandemic is far from over and we are constantly looking to build long term sustainable partnerships for Disaster Relief and Response, with a particular emphasis on PREPARATION to avoid ‘known and the more predictable’ disasters …

Is that you/your company or your church? Then please connect with our Donor Relations Team – Karen Brokensha or Tarin Stevenson on ways to partner in this space.

https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/everyday-hero-catherine-whittle-not-afraid-to-get-her-hands-dirt-to-help-kzns-vulnerable-20200717?fbclid=IwAR1PKWMa79HVy68qj7PRjTFN9MGcWcDZwYYLasGNg1FJxJf0zmzWpO7Ag6o
Read more

Thinking out of the Box …

Berea-based NPO, the AtomGate Foundation, (an outreach arm of Morningside IT solutions and services company, AtomGate), has once again linked up with the Domino Foundation Nutrition programme in Amanzimtoti. A bakkie-load of flip-top plastic containers to be used as lunch boxes was donated for distribution to Domino’s beneficiary partnering primary schools, high schools and a community centre where the Nutrition Programme operates. CEO of AtomGate, Kevin Meredith, and founder of the AtomGate Foundation commented, “We have previously joined forces with Domino helping make sandwiches. Now, we felt that the schoolchildren receiving Domino’s sandwiches needed containers to put the sandwiches in.” As a deacon in Kingsway Church International, Amanzimtoti, Kevin has been par of the Domino Toti kitchen since 2016.

Cheryl Dann, who leads Domino’s Toti operations, said, “We distributed this generous donation to our beneficiaries who opted for big waves of gratitude as their smiley faces were hidden by masks!” Cheryl expressed her sincere appreciation to AtomGate saying, “Support from local business partners like AtomGate, which is a real community player, adds such value and joy to our work. We would love to connect with other local companies who want to partner with us to bring hope and really make a difference in our beneficiaries’ lives. Please contact me on feedingtoti@domino.org.za.”

Caption Domino’s Purity Ngcongo with Kusakusa Primary School Grade 7 pupils Nomthandazo Khumalo (left) and Msizi Hlongwa and some of the lunch boxes donated by the AtomGate Foundation.                                                                                      

Read more
Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial