“It takes a village to raise a child”
The PnS business has over the years contributed significantly to a variety of charities, homes and causes. Most of our spend has been directed to organisations that support children, from abandoned new-borns to schools and troubled youths. In 2020 our efforts will change gear to begin an exciting five-year journey with a specific group of children from the Potato Foundation that we want to support more holistically. From donations and a reactive strategy, we want to more involved. We want to focus our spend and efforts to make a difference in the lives of a group of children that is lasting and transformative. We want to provide the means and opportunities that permanently change and improve their lives, for good.
“We want to provide the means and opportunities that permanently change and improve their lives, for good.”
The ‘Shining Lights’ Programme will be a six-year journey from Grade 7 to the end of high school that will dramatically impact lives. We have identified learners from grass roots organisation and previously disadvantaged schools and will begin by working with learners to improve their results. Interventions will include the ssponsorship of their education costs and:
- Quarterly meetings with students to ensure they are on track to pass their exams. Reviewing their studies and identifying other potential needs to ensure successful completion of school year. Examples include tutoring, their emotional wellness, motivation, or basic needs they may have for food or toiletries for example.
- We will attend the annual Grade 7 Youth camp to contribute to building leadership skills and helping them prepare for peer pressures of high school. Volunteers from within the business will present and encourage children with the paths they have walked to change their lives.
- A year end celebration with students who have passed!
For children that pass Grade 7, the journey will continue with the sponsorship of their high-school education years following the same process of quarterly check-ins to ensure students on track to pass their grades, visits to motivate students before exams and celebrate after exams. Emotional support will be offered to them for the duration, with every successful year passed, celebrated.
We will aim to change how learners perform at school and provide in-depth individual support to help to grow their confidence so they can see and realise their true potential.
The programme places a great deal of emphasis on potential and attitude. Rather than take the top students, we have considered various other factors when selecting learners, with the intent to provide an enabling environment for them to flourish and reach their full potential.
“The programme will aim to change how learners perform and provide in-depth individual support to help them see and realise their potential.”
The Social Impact programme aims to offer comprehensive academic and integrated holistic support with specific focus on strengthening performance across a number of subjects, including Mathematics, English, Physical Science and Life Sciences in order that the learners reach their potential and pass their Matric with marks that will enable their entry into tertiary education institutions post passing Grade 12. Post school, successful learners will be offered bursaries to enter tertiary institutions as well as potential learnerships or enter the graduate programme.
They will be exposed to self-development workshops and career guidance, as well as be offered work shadowing and assignments later on, within the PnS Group. Should learners have an interest in the FMCG industry, PnS will facilitate their exposure to various facets of the business, with a view ultimately to employment.
Our PnS purpose is at the heart of the programme and we’re excited about making our investment in community tangible and meaningful within the business for our staff, and all of our stakeholders as we begin the journey toward the Matric graduation of the ‘Class of 2020’. Interventions will begin at the Grade 7 year every year, ensuring a continuous cycle of upliftment. We would also welcome employee participation and assistance, so step forward, step up and be a part of something remarkable.
