Eskom employee i-Volunteer programme

The Eskom employee i-Volunteer programme was launched under the auspices of the Eskom Development Foundation to encourage a spirit of volunteerism among Eskom staff. Each year a different theme is used.

For the 2010/11 financial year, the selected theme was:”Places of safety for women and vulnerable children”. In each of the Eskom regions around the country, employees were encouraged to give of their time and resources to help those in need within their surrounding communities.

The people of Eskom rallied to the call and have spent many hours assisting with programmes in charity organisations. Their support has ranged from practical demonstrations of caring such as building, gardening and painting, through to organising fundraising events for charities.

The spirit of giving is celebrated through Eskom’s people participating in projects across the country. The summaries below are a taste of the registered projects which make up i-Volunteer.

Mandela Day

18 July is Nelson Mandela’s birthday and traditionally, it is a day on which thousands of South Africans heed the call to spend 67 minutes of their day helping those in need. In Eskom, senior management and i-Volunteer participants offer their help to their communities. Causes supported have ranged from:

• Eskom Exco members and Foundation Board members spending time with 285 HIV/Aids children at Sparrow Village.
• i-Volunteers from Eskom’s Integrated Risk Management Department giving children, many of them infected with HIV/Aids, comfort by donating teddy bears to the residents of Sophy’s Home in Soshanguve outside Pretoria.
  

Other i-Volunteer programmes run throughout the year include:

• Plant engineering (Auxiliary and Chemical) adopted Lerato Love Home (LLH), an orphanage in Gauteng, as their charity of choice, where they tutor school-going children, fundraise and hosted a Christmas party.
• The Innovation Circuit and S&I hosted a Christmas party for orphaned children at the Krugersdorp Teddy Bear Clinic.
• The KSACS service measurement department adopted St Anne’s Homes, based in Woodstock, Cape Town assisting abused women and children.
• Transmission Western Grid’s i-Volunteer team hosted a fun day for the children at the Saartjie Baartman Centre in the Western Cape.

Joy & Jewels celebrates Eskom’s spirit of volunteerism

The Eskom Foundation, inspired by our staff’s enthusiastic acceptance of the i-Volunteer programme and their adoption of causes aimed at reducing the suffering of abused women and children, showed its support of its volunteers by sponsoring the Joy & Jewels charity auction in August 2010.

The annual event, which was attended by prominent women from the business and public sector, raised over R1 million for iKhaya Lethemba, The Teddy Bear Clinic, and Family Justice Support Services.