It was all action for Montecasino and Tsogo Sun head office staff, at Diepsloot Primary School no. 4, and further afield on 14 July when hundreds of staff volunteers participated in a wide range of community upliftment projects in celebration of Mandela Day.
Diepsloot Primary School No. 4, which, along with several other Diepsloot schools, has been benefiting from Montecasino’s CSI activities for over four years, saw eager teams of Tsogo Sun volunteers and members of the community, knuckle down to school improvement jobs that included creating a Grade R play area, laying bricks outside the kitchen, refurbishing the school library with books and shelves, and laying grass outside and erecting a canopy on the early childhood development Edutainer classroom that was donated and installed by Tsogo Sun in March this year.
Back at the Montecasino precinct and adjacent Head Office, staff packed items already donated by employees and blankets knitted for Precious Babies, which provides newborn hampers for disadvantaged mothers leaving hospital with their babies. The books that had been collected over many weeks were also packed up and delivered to Diepsloot Primary School No. 4 and Itirele-Zenzele Secondary School for their libraries.
In the Montecasino Bird Gardens, orphans from Barkston Place were treated to a tour of the gardens, a Flight of Fantasy show, and a delicious lunch. Volunteers also invested their Mandela minutes at the Society for Animals in Distress, where they provided whatever help the welfare care for animals organisation needed, while others joined Tsogo Sun’s Sandton Convention Centre team in packing at the massive Stop Hunger Now Meal Packaging Event.
Mike Page, newly appointed GM at Montecasino, was impressed at the range of Mandela Day initiatives and the commitment by his staff to make a difference. “Our aim is to ensure that every visitor to Montecasino has a memorable experience. This Mandela Day, we took that a step further, and did our best to give many disadvantaged children and adults in our local communities something good, something they will remember with happiness.”
Adds Shanda Paine, Tsogo Sun Group CSI Manager, “Giving and sharing among disadvantaged communities – from the top levels of our organisation right through the ranks – has become a deep-rooted part of the Tsogo Sun mindset as a whole. It’s so encouraging to see that every year we seem to do better than the year before, and our Mandela Day minutes add up to a significant contribution to improving society.”
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