On a more serious note, though, we want to give you another suggestion on ways to give of service this coming Friday, Mandela Day. All of last week we focused on a couple of ideas and we'll carry on doing it this week, so that if you haven't yet found a way to give back, or perhaps your company hasn't sort of lobbied everyone behind a particular cause and you just want to do something on your own, we can
give you some inspiration. Today, we want to talk to you about what Rape Crisis is doing on Friday, because they are hoping to rally volunteers to pack essential items for their care Pack drive at their Salt River offices. While I'm thinking of it, I also want to mention that Grand West is doing something on Friday, and the chef Kishen as he left did ask me to mention that they are going to be packing food and preparing meals for those in need with their team on Friday.
They're hoping to pack five thousand meals with Rise Against Hunger. So if you are looking for something in that part of the world, perhaps you might like to join in that activity at Grand West. But here today the focus is on Rape Crisis and their care packs which are much more than simply a bag of toiletries. With me on the line, Jamillae is smell of rape crisis, Jimilla. We're very happy to have you with us a fundraising officer for the organization, which we know is a particularly
challenging role in current economic circumstances. Thank you for your time.
Hi Paper, thank you so much for having me here today. I'm sure happy to be sharing about our Mandela Day Capectrive, which actually starting twenty fifteen and since then we've tried our best to keep it consistently going as an annual event on Mandela Day and inviting people like you said to share the sixty spend the sixty seven minutes with us and pack a capac which you've touched on a little bit. But these care packs are quite a big deal.
They are small, but they hold a great deal which include just a christ change of closing and some basic toiletries. And this care packt is something that a survivor would receive after attending our post grape medical care facilities which are called to do. There are care centers and our attached hospitals in and around Cape Town and often is the first source of compassion and comfort that a survivor
receives the first physical reminder that someone cares. And so having this event is just basically an opportunity not only to invite our supporters, our audiences, our volunteers, people that feel aligned with the work that we do to come and spend their sixty seven when it's not us, but also an opportunity for us to connect with our supporters in person, because we never get a chance to really do that in our work throughout the years. So it's a special one.
Jamila, I want to circle back to really just emphasize again what you said there that this is much more than handing somebody a deodor into a piece of soap that they might have physical need of, because the act, just the mere act of coming to a Tota Zella care center is an active, immense courage, the act of seeking help rather than as we know, many survivors do not speak up, do not tell anybody, cannot face what they think the repercussions are going to be in terms
of secondary victimization, and don't share any of what has happened to them with anybody. So the very act of arriving at a TOUTA Zella Care center is one that
requires a huge summoning up of courage. Do you want to just expand for us and emphasize what it then means to be there and not just be treated with compassion by the staff there and given the medical care that is necessary, but to be handed a parcel that somebody else has packed for you, who has thought about what you might need in this darkest moment of your life.
There is a moment of sort of humanizing. I've been reminded there that although the person who's done this to you was acting in the most inhuman way possible, not everybody.
Is like that exactly, no, speaking exactly the fact, that is exactly what we do, and it is absolutely one of those things where you spend your sixty seven minutes. But it's about turning that empathy into action and knowing that what you are doing is going to directly impact the life of a survivor and bring them comfort in
their journey. It is a big deal. There's many factors involved in reporting sexual violence, and these many factors we know that stop individuals and survivors from actually doing that, So yes, it is a major step for them to
actually attend these to their Lackey centers. And the fact that we can have our supporters and audiences be a part of directly impacting a survivor on their journey, you know, providing that little bit of safety and reassured and in the form of a key pack right after they had a wing experience is major an deeply impactful and so we know that when people come and pack with us, even they receive the tag that entails who exactly they
are packing a keypack for. And oftentimes even the layman's people that come and they just are supporting us and wanting to spend the sixty even with a Minnesotas can feel trick, it can form feel some sort of secondy traumas. So we have counselors on site for that exact reason as well, just in case, you know, any containment needs to occur and we need to provide some sort of safe space and some words of encouragement. But it is everything.
So we invite people to join us if that's what they feel aligned with, but also understand that it's you know, it's deep and it's impactful.
Yeah, Now, if somebody does feel aligned and would like to join you on Friday. Firstly, what is entailed, how much time do they need to give, where do they need to be, et cetera. And secondly, how do they connect with you to let them let you know that they're coming.
Okay, amazing. So basically our care tact drive will be open from ten am until two pm on Friday the eighteenth of July, and we will be We've got a collaboration on with to You who's also previously known as Gets Smarter. So the event will take place at their offices at e five eighth Victory Earl. You can look at our socials Grape Crisis Caape some trust for all information as well. And then also you can reach out
to me directly as the fundraising officer. You can give me an email at which is my name Jamiela j A M double e l A h at today crisis dot org dot jed A happy to answer any questions and then people can just come spend as much time with us as they would like to. Sometimes we get people come in with donations of toylity items as well, which is more than welcome to do. And that list can also be found on our socials. It's just a tooth brush space, closs help and sanity towels that go
into the pack as essential items. And yeah, they can come and spend all four hours with us or the sixty seven minutes or less time. It doesn't matter. We encourage everyone to just come and be a part of the day.
Jamina, I hope you're going to be overwhelmed with pairs of hands wanting to help. Just to repeat Jamila's email address j A. M. Double e l Ah Jamila at rapecrisis dot org dot side. Otherwise, go onto their social media go to their website rape crisis dot org dot SIDA for details on how to sign up or on how to pledge your donation in kind if that is how you would like to help. Jamila, thank you so much for your time the fundraising officer for Rape Crisis
doing absolutely essential work. And another idea on how you might like to share your sixty seven minutes this Friday,