As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day and for us, it’s eight years and still counting. In 2014 when a group of passionate friends and philanthropists got together, it was the beginning of Call 2 Care – an organisation that would go on to become a key player in the NPO space. With a unique approach to corporate social responsibility and a deep understanding of South Africa’s needs, Call 2 Care has played a significant role in connecting the private and public sector with underserved communities.
Celebrating South Africa’s diverse culture and heritage, Call 2 Care is fueled by the spirit of South Africa’s history and everything that unites us. Heritage Day, celebrated on the 24th of September each year brings back lots of memories. Eight years ago, Call 2 Care was born from the idea between Founder, Alexandryna, partner Rob, and their groupd of friends. The goals was to meet the needs of underprivileged communities which began with the first event hosted at Baphumelele Children’s Home in Khayelitsha.
This event was the starting point and brought a group of people together for a weekly potluck to brainstorm and plan the next outreach initiative. In 2015 our Co-founder, Steven Dos Ramos, joined and turned Call 2 Care into the well-oiled machine it is today – one that is able to partner with corporates and engage in outreach initiatives throughout the year. Steven helped build structure into Call 2 Care’s operations and this helped to gain traction in the NPO industry.
Call 2 Care: Transforming Communities
The goal at Call 2 Care is to develop initiatives that focus on self-sustainability, environmental conservation, and skills development. Through the iGardi Project, our veteran agricultural initiative, we’ve supported fourteen communities and helped them learn about food gardening to support themselves and the people closest to them.
Our Spekboom for Climate Change project is another one of our well-established initiatives aimed at educating people about the benefits of planting Spekboom. This project is focused on battling climate change, reducing carbon footprint, and creating green environments throughout urban communities. So far, we've planted 577 spekbooms with many more to come.
With our REVAMP initiative, the goal is to better the environment by beautifying and upgrading already existing spaces. With assistance from volunteer teams and corporate sponsors, we host REVAMP events in communities that require maintenance and refurbishment in schools, community centres, early childhood centres, and other facilities. The development and maintenance of these spaces allows for safer premises and eventually leads to an increase of enrollments at schools, giving them more earnings through fees. Overall, this allows for improvement in the financial circumstance of schools and entire communities through empowerment and education.
Our Philile Project, an initiative that's been in the pipeline is currently making significant headway. Initially, it focused on offering educational resources that would assist in developing skills and providing training in communities. We are shifting the aim of this project to become a work readiness and employability initiative. The first point of action is looking at developing an online course that would offer programmes to gain employable skills. We are currently working on this with a group of passionate volunteers.
While our long-standing initiatives are truly our prized possessions, the Holistic Upliftment and Empowerment (HUE) project covers lots of ground. The motto with this initiative is ‘’A hand up, not a hand out’’. The aim is to establish a variety of projects that support and uplift homeless communities in Cape Town. The projects covered under HUE include cooking classes as corporate events where the cooked food is contributed to to soup kitchens or is used as part of food parcel distributions. Our Winter Blanket Drive is also housed under the HUE umbrella which consists of warm clothes and water-proof blankets donated to those in need. In 2021 we hosted our first ever Street Store, a collaborative outreach event in partnership with Ladles of Love that took place on Heritage Day at The Hope Exchange in Cape Town. The project allowed the homeless community to choose from a number of items that they needed, as opposed to being given handouts that might not benefit them. This important aspect of choice goes a long way in underserved communities.
Apart from these initiatives, we’ve also taken great joy in curating team building events for corporates, where employees can be thanked, feel appreciated, and have some fun while giving back. Our Paint & Sip events are a big hit as it brings out the inner artist and helps promote skilled, local artists as they guide these painting sessions.
The growth of Call 2 Care continues through the local and international volunteers who have come forth since its launch. We currently have 18 active members from our pioneer team. The volunteer programmes vary from on-site to off-site opportunities, including tackling global issues that deeply affect our communities. From event planning, film and editing, writing, and social media marketing, the team has grown and is able to help with outreach initiatives and the growth of our online presence.
Overcoming Challenges
While the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our operations, we’ve overcome many hurdles throughout Call 2 Care's eight-year journey. In the NPO industry, our aim is to bridge the gap between social outreach and communities in need. According to the Department of Social Development, as of September 2021 South Africa has 248 902 registered NPOs. Given the large number of organisations in the country, gaining stable government funding poses a unique challenge, as those funds are often reserved for organisations who have been in the game much longer. Our strategy team has to be innovative in their approach so we avoid duplicating projects that are already running and figure out ways for us to continue making an impact in different ways.
Call 2 Care’s aim is that whoever needs help, no matter which corner of South Africa they may be in, receives the support that they need. One of our major ongoing projects is the Safe House Pamper Picnic for the ladies of Carehaven Shelter which began as an outreach initiative for Mandela Day 2022 and focused on providing much-needed essentials.
With the assistance of the public, we can continue to focus on improving lives. The challenges we've faced so far mainly stems from the constant search for stable funding to cover expenses and administrative costs. The goal is to eventually reach a stage where each initiative and project has sustainable financial support. Corporate and individual donors play a vital role in the work that gets done - massive thanks to everyone who has contributed financially and to our volunteers who have contributed their hours! Looking forward, we would like to be constantly growing and shifting into new spaces where support is needed and give people the tools they need to access improved living conditions.
Call 2 Care prides itself on responsible auditing practices with budgets being maximised as much as possible for beneficiaries across initiatives. If you would like to make a monetary contribution, you can head to our page where there’s a number of options to choose from starting from just R25 monthly, or any amount of your choosing for once-off donations (powered by SnapScan and GivenGain). All contributions are tax deductible and eligible for a SARS Section 18A receipt.