The winners were announced at an open event at the Jet store in Southgate, Johannesburg, earlier this month, where representatives from the winning community based organisations shared their celebrations with Jet shoppers and other local community members. The regional winners were applauded for their inspirational contributions to social upliftment.
The awards recognise community projects and organisations in the categories of “Education”, honouring organisations and individuals focusing on school-level programmes of excellence in literacy, maths, science and technology, “Environmental Waste Management”, recognising organisations that focus on reducing or eliminating waste, “We Care”, recognising inspirational community initiatives in healthcare, Early Childhood Development (ECD), Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) as well as initiatives with people with disabilities and “Vukuzenzele” which recognises entrepreneurs among black women, youths and in small rural enterprises.
Chosen from hundreds of worthy entries the Gauteng and North West regional winners are:
*No award was made in the Environmental Waste Management category.
Jet Club Manager, Tessa Lloyd says the awards are going from strength to strength as more and more South Africans make individual contributions to social transformation at a grassroots level. “To ensure that we're selecting winners who are genuinely benefitting their local communities and who have the ability to sustain their impact we send out verification teams to visit all short listed projects. We sincerely congratulate our remarkable winners for their efforts to transform the communities they live in for the better. They are tireless individuals who have little or no support and seldom any specialist education which makes their efforts all the more extraordinary.
“By investing in the upliftment of our communities, Jet is providing much-needed funding where it is needed most. Through the Awards we are privileged to be able to help with grassroots social transformation that is positively impacting the lives of thousands of disadvantaged people.”
Since the launch of the Awards in 2003, there has been such an enthusiastic response at a community level that Jet has continually increased its investment in the programme to the point where there is now more than R1 million in prize money on offer, which is all reinvested into worthy community initiatives. The Gauteng event was the first of five regional events in the lead up to the final event in October at which the overall winners in each category will be announced. Each regional category winner receives R15, 000 in prize money and becomes eligible for the final event at which seven overall winners each receive R75 000 prize money and R1 000 in Jet shopping vouchers.
Now in its sixth year, the Jet Community Awards invites entries from anyone who has contributed to the wellbeing of their community in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland.
For more information on the programme and regional winners, visit: www.jetstores.co.za/Jet/Jet+Cares/
