Nedbank’s food jar initiative a success
Nedbank Staff donated a total of 1671 jars, for their ‘Fill a Jar’ challenge, filled with a variety of non-perishable food items, to various charities recently.
The bank in a statement said that staff volunteerism has always been a cornerstone of its quest to be deeply involved in the communities that they serve, and the challenge was embraced by all of its members the staff across the country.
“What started as an inter-departmental challenge, soon became a countrywide juggernaut, as teams vied for the honor of collecting as many jars as possible with non-perishable food items and donating some to vulnerable communities,” added the Bank.
The challenge was initiated by the Bank’s Finance Department, with the initiative spearheaded by Lizette Kotze. “I saw the campaign and social media, and it caught my eye since it is such a simple initiative one can work on, even on a purely individual basis. The impact of an initiative is always multiplied and wide-ranging when the challenge is taken up by many, instead of only a few. When I saw this, I decided to ask my team if they were keen on the challenge, and to my surprise, they were ecstatic about it as I was,” said Kotze.
The Bank explained that the challenge was only initiated a few weeks ago and saw a total of 1 671 jars filled with a variety of nonperishable food items like beans, stock cubes, rice, lentils, and soup powder. “A total of 261 staff in different teams across the Nedbank Namibia network took part in the challenge, where the winning team stood to be chosen based on the number of jars they filled, relative to the actual members within each team. The team that won the challenge was the Netbank Grootfontein Branch, a team made up of only four members, who still managed the amazing feat of filling no less than 118 jars,” said the Bank.
After the competition lapsed, the teams were given option to donate the jars to any charity of their choosing. Kotze said that members of her team already have charities they work with and having extra food items from the challenge to give out, makes it an even better experience because of the larger collective societal impact.
“Our team already donates to a few charities in the Windhoek area to reach different people in need. Through the years the team supported several charities namely, the King’s Daughters, Meals and Wheels, and Eros Girls School. Sometimes we just make an effort to collect food or blankets and then donate it to someone, whenever there is a pressing need,” emphasised Kotze.
Kotze explained that what they decided to do this time around was to also have an internal focus, knowing full well that there is a level of wisdom in the saying that charity often starts at home.
Nedbank Communications and PR Manager, Selma Kaulinge said her department assisted in the challenge by donating and making sure the challenge was extensively communicated bank-wide. “The sheer spirit demonstrated by all my colleagues during this initiative is something that will stay with me forever. Not only do we pride ourselves in our purpose of being money experts who do good, but we are also actually going out there to make a difference in the communities. This is just one of the many staff initiatives which are coupled with our already established corporate social investment framework. As a responsible business, making sure we assist in the different communities we operate in is in our mandate, and we will continue to support where we can,” said Kaulinge.
