CORPORATE SOCIAL INVESTMENT

Our commitment to the local community in which we serve extends beyond our support to various worthy charities but also forms part of the Lake Smith & Partners culture of caring for those in need. Through a hands on approach by our staff, together we uplift our community.

CORPORATE SOCIAL INVESTMENT

OPERATION BOBBI BEAR

Lake, Smit & Partners Staff give back to Operation Bobbi Bear

Lake Smit’s very own Paula McKenzie and her close friend, who owns one of the horses at her stables, Jade Kruger, of Toti Ranch Stables in Amanzimtoti, recently held a stable yard fundraiser at Splash Waterworld in Amanzimtoti’s Main Beach to raise funds for the upkeep of the horses.

“We raised much more money than we expected to and wanted to use the funds to give back to the community in some valuable way. We thought of Operation Bobbi Bear, which is a human rights organisation committed to helping sexually abused children in Amanzimtoti. The organisation rescues and provides safe homes for abused children, works with the criminal justice system to prosecute perpetrators, educate individuals and communities, and much, much more. We decided that we would give back to the children who have been helped by Operation Bobbi Bear”, shared Paula.

“With this goal in mind, Jade and I were joined by a few other colleagues of mine from Lake, Smit & Partners, namely, Mary-Jane Potgieter and Preleen Govender who joined us as we planned a fun-filled day for the children at my family-owned stable yard on Sunday, the 12th of December 2021”, Paula added.

The extra funds raised were used to purchase Christmas gifts for the children. The children were given a mini party set-up where they had a jumping castle, were given pony rides and the opportunity to interact with these gentle animals and play games in a safe and fun environment. They were also given boerewors rolls and juice for lunch, which was sponsored by Johan and Julie Kruger.

“Jade and I would like to thank my Lake, Smit colleagues, Mary-Jane Potgieter and Preleen Govender, as well as the team of girls who helped with pony rides, Rachel Dempsey, Amy Strydom and Julie Kruger, and not forgetting Marc Brazier and Johan Kruger who assisted with the braai,” said Paula.

We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also, we help others in order to work on ourselves.

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

Our annual Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign see’s charities such as Reach for Recovery and Highway Hospice benefiting from our campaign. In support of Breast Cancer awareness month, we donate 10% of all mammography examination fees done in October to these dedicated organisations involved in the care and support of breast cancer patients. By sowing directly back into our community, we believe we are making a difference in the fight against Breast Cancer.

Our annual Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign see’s charities such as Reach for Recovery and Highway Hospice benefiting from our campaign. In support of Breast Cancer awareness month, we donate 10% of all mammography examination fees done in October to these dedicated organisations involved in the care and support of breast cancer patients. By sowing directly back into our community, we believe we are making a difference in the fight against Breast Cancer.

TREE PARTNERSHIP

Ensuring that young children develop into their full potential, we support TREE (Training and Resources in Early Education), an organisation devoted to early childhood development by offering children in KZN programmes and skills development that promote nutrition, building toys and encourage early learning through play.

We have partnered with TREE by identifying several ‘HUBS of EXCELLENCE’ where we set up gardens to encourage healthy living and promoting nutrition and crafts and toy making using recycled materials to encourage creativity and sustainability.

There are currently 4 TREE centres and 27 training sites across KZN, which support over 1400 Early Childhood Development (EDC) sites. To date, they have reached more than 52000 children, trained 1424 EDC practitioners and built 7 toy libraries in 2 years.