In the spirit of giving something back to the local community during Ausure Insurance Brokers’ first international conference in the Cape region of South Africa, 100 delegates from across Australia made a difference in the lives of the children of Lynedoch and Vlottenburg primary schools when they were invited to “pack for a purpose.”
It started when one of our conference sponsors, Zurich Financial Services, wanted to do something meaningful in South Africa and give the delegates a wider sense of our location. Our conference venue, Spier Hotel, is a participating member of the Pack for a Purpose program. They were able to supply lists of uniform and stationery requirements for Lynedoch and Vlottenburg, which serve impoverished communities nearby. The supplies assisted six and seven year old students to start Grade 1.
Ausure conference delegates went shopping for the items in Australia and then each gave up approximately 2.2 kilos of space in their luggage to bring the items to South Africa. In addition to school packs, two Lumley Insurance delegates hauled over 50 soccer and 50 rugby balls to South Africa to give to the children. Pinnacle Insurance Services also gave 10 soccer balls. Collectively, this enabled more than 260 kilos of supplies to be delivered.
Getting people to actively participate in shopping for a child and transporting items, rather than just donating money, made the experience even more meaningful for conference attendees. The reaction of the children to receiving these packs and balls was incredible. They were so excited and so grateful. And when Lynedoch’s principle Grantham Jansen got up to speak in appreciation there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
Pack for a Purpose was a catalyst for the David Paul Foundation, initiated by Ausure’s Chairman Wayne Brown to assist with the development of sporting opportunities for students of Lynedoch Primary School in South Africa.
“The kids come from severely disadvantaged backgrounds, so it was encouraging to see the passion and inspired philosophy of the teachers at the school,” says Brown. “Initially, rugby tops, shorts and boots will be supplied for the kids to play Rugby Union which has recently been introduced by the dynamic principle Mr Jansen. As the school doesn’t have its own playing fields, staff members also have to find ways to transport kids to university fields. Funds will be administered by Spier Hotel, who is heavily involved in community and sustainability projects in the area.”
Lumley Insurance partnered with Ausure to donate to the foundation. Lumley’s Amy Stead says, “Lumley were proud to be a part of the Ausure conference to South Africa this year. To see children who are genuinely excited to be at school and the look on their faces when we gave them the rugby and footballs was incredibly moving. This highlights the importance of sport in a child’s development.”
The Ausure/Zurich Pack for a Purpose donation is brought to life in this article published in Australia’s Insurance News Magazine, Dec 2013/Jan 2014 issue.
Thanks to Rebecca Rothney and her team of talented and dedicated volunteers for setting up Pack for a Purpose. It is a wonderful project and we can’t recommend Pack for a Purpose highly enough, especially for other companies to get involved. Making a difference together is powerful.
