Make an underprivileged child’s year for just R300

To most of you reading this post, R300 is not a lot of money. It’s a meal at a nice restaurant. It’s what you spend on data for your iPhone in a month. It’s what you spend on coffee in a fortnight.

But for R300 you can make a little person with a very hard life happy this Christmas. The Santa Shoebox project is such a simple idea: a shoebox packed with a mixture of essentials and luxuries for a child who would otherwise have nothing over Christmas.

The target this year is 100,000 shoeboxes and they are 74% of the way there. The cut off is next Friday (the 24th of October) so you still have time to show your support. If you don’t have time to shop for the shoebox items yourself, you can even buy a “virtual” shoebox for R350 and someone else will pack it for you.

I’m not a bleeding heart lefty, and I’m also not starry eyed. I’m making two kids lives ever so slightly better, not solving the world’s problems. But kindness is not a limited resource. This isn’t about shame - this is about joy. Do it because you mean it, not because you should.