“Our People, Our Planet” is a motto that we as Beekman Group are proud to stand by, where our belief that the future of our country and company hinges on the positive transformation and upliftment of our community and environment. To this end, our Corporate Social Investment is focused on sustainable projects that make a real difference to those who need it the most.
Our key focus areas are social development, basic education, health, job creation and public service.
Over the past year, the Beekman Group has assisted the community in various ways:
The Port Shepstone Rotary Club had planned to host their annual public collection of coins to raise funds for The Child Welfares Back to School effort, but sadly due to the Covid-19 pandemic the event had to be cancelled. The Beekman Group made a decision to still make the very much needed donation to Child Welfare, without which there were sure to be many little lives that would not have been able to get an opportunity to partake in the 2021 school curriculum.
Thanda Community Centre is one of our much-loved initiatives that empower people to create positive change with their core focus being on Early Childhood Development, After-School Programme, Organic Sustainable Farming and Creative Learning Training. In response to Covid-19 Thanda had to modify their educational offerings into a newly developed Learning at Home Programme. This in turn aided in creating jobs within the community by hiring and upskilling people to become early childhood, after school and organic farming facilitators. We donated much needed stationery to be used for their Learning at Home Programme, as well as all our old publications for the children to use for fine motor skill development and projects.
We are very proud to be associated with a brand-new initiative called Muse. Muse is a non-profit initiative focused on ending period poverty and period stigma through service, education, awareness, aid and advocacy. Period poverty is a global issue affecting women and girls who don’t have access to safe, hygienic sanitary products, and/or who are unable to manage their periods with dignity, sometimes due to community stigma and sanction. Statistics show that an estimated 30% of girls don’t attend school during their period because they cannot afford sanitary products. This initiative hopes to empower not only this generation, but future generations of women. It is time to honour that which has been left unspoken, it is time to empower her. She is the daughter, the sister, the mother, she is the future, she is our MUSE.
Beekman Group is also very passionate about our local SPCA and the wonderful work that they do within the community. Annually we collaborate with our staff to raise funds for their winter warmth campaign with fun filled departmental challenges to raise funds as well as food for our fury friends. The last fundraiser was not for those afraid of being in the “dog box”. The SPCA challenged all fundraisers to spend a night in one of their brand-new kennels, which was no mean feat considering that it was in the middle of winter. The more funds the volunteer raised, the more essentials items were allowed from home to help them get through the night. Plenty of fun was had but more importantly they raised a substantial amount of much needed funds and a whole lot of pet food.
n June/July 2021 Kwa-Zulu Natal was hit hard by looting and the South Coast was not left unaffected. Our community members, along with authorities, worked tirelessly to keep our community safe by working around the clock manning various road-blocks as well as entry and exit points. We were proud to have assisted the volunteers with reflective vests and torches. Together as a community standing as one, our beautiful Coast was saved.
And finally, each year we like to end off the year with Santa Shoebox. This initiative originated in Cape Town in 2006 with a humble 180 shoeboxes. In 15 years, it has grown in leaps and bounds, with the number of Santa Shoeboxes donated reaching a total of 1 017 741 children ranging from 1 to 15 years of age. The shoeboxes are distributed to more than 1000 recipient facilities each year, through more than 60 satellites around South Africa and Namibia. And we are proud to donate 50 boxes to them annually.
At resort level we strive to use local companies and businesses to provide basic necessities and services. We regularly assist local charities and other and NPOs within the various regions with donations of linen and equipment during our resort refurbishments and upgrades.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has ~Unknown~
We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny ~ Martin Luther King Jr ~