Mandela Day is upon, the international day which is celebrated globally to honor the life of the late stalwart Nelson Mandela's devotion to humanity and humanitarian causes, will still promote the spirit of giving back even this year, despite the coronavirus outbreak.
Read More: Good Morning Angels Helps DJ Jazzy D Feed Thousands In A Day
Read More: Good Morning Angels Helps DJ Jazzy D Feed Thousands In A Day
It is no secret that the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic has put a lot of plans and activities on standstill, but South Africans aim to carry on Madiba's legacy, and help those who are needy during these trying times.
ZAlebs recently caught up with DJ Jazzy D who has joined hands towards a good cause with Jacaranda FM’s Good Morning Angels Martin Bester, in raising enough funds to feed 40 000 South Africans in desperate need!
#GMAMandelaDay recently called on listeners and clients from all over SA, and further afield, to make donations towards this initiative via the donate button on their website, with each R67 making it possible to feed a family of four.
The initiative which started a few days ago has been receiving an overwhelming response from the masses as a whopping R572 538, has been raised in just two days since the initiative’s launch on 13 July. This was added to DJ Jazzy D’s total of R85 000 and topped up by Jacaranda FM’s Good Morning Angels to leave a grand total of R670 000, or 40 000 meals for South Africans in need.
Jazzy D, who received a call from Martin Bester to reveal the final amount raised, couldn’t hold back the tears: “I don’t know what to say but ‘thank you’. Many of us are concerned with a brand of coffee that we can’t find in a store, or when we’ll be able to go to the movies again, while many people don’t know where their next meal will be coming from. It’s amazing what we can do if we just look at the person next to us and believe that they are worth living for, even if they don’t believe it themselves,” he said.
Martin said they have done numerous projects but this one, is the first of its kind that on Mandela Day they will be feeding scores of people, "Good Morning Angels has done projects at this scale but not necessarily feeding, last year we raised money to get children heart operations. We do Good Morning Angels every week, before this project we handed out 500 000 to various charities who look after the vulnerable, before that we joined hands with another company to give those who lost income during the lockdown, so every week we are involved and we realize how important it is for those who can to assist those who can't," said Martin Bester.
Jazzy D said they will be assisting 15 cities to feed between 8-10 soup kitchens in the area "Our plan is to assist a lot of soup kitchens across the country. We have just over 15 cities we will be working with, and each city we will be assisting between 8-10 soup kitchens. At the moment we are in the process of calling everyone to determine how much will be allocated to each soup kitchen," he said.
Martin said although the coronavirus pandemic has changed a lot of things, they are proud of the fact that they will continue to lend a helping hand "Normally we would ask people what they are doing during the 67 minutes of Mandela day, but obviously that looks different with the lockdown. For now, we are asking them to give us R67 which is given to people, in a way of feeding them and it is also to tell people that they are not forgotten, we know about them and we care about them and we try to help where we can," he added.
Jazzy D said they will be on the ground in Pretoria on Saturday, to help with the preparations and the distributions of the meals. "On behalf of Pretoria, the area that we can cover we will be hands-on, we will be there when the meals get cooked and handed over to the people, two its a hands-on project."
Jazzy D, who received a call from Martin Bester to reveal the final amount raised, couldn’t hold back the tears: “I don’t know what to say but ‘thank you’. Many of us are concerned with a brand of coffee that we can’t find in a store, or when we’ll be able to go to the movies again, while many people don’t know where their next meal will be coming from. It’s amazing what we can do if we just look at the person next to us and believe that they are worth living for, even if they don’t believe it themselves,” he said.
Martin said they have done numerous projects but this one, is the first of its kind that on Mandela Day they will be feeding scores of people, "Good Morning Angels has done projects at this scale but not necessarily feeding, last year we raised money to get children heart operations. We do Good Morning Angels every week, before this project we handed out 500 000 to various charities who look after the vulnerable, before that we joined hands with another company to give those who lost income during the lockdown, so every week we are involved and we realize how important it is for those who can to assist those who can't," said Martin Bester.
Jazzy D said they will be assisting 15 cities to feed between 8-10 soup kitchens in the area "Our plan is to assist a lot of soup kitchens across the country. We have just over 15 cities we will be working with, and each city we will be assisting between 8-10 soup kitchens. At the moment we are in the process of calling everyone to determine how much will be allocated to each soup kitchen," he said.
Martin said although the coronavirus pandemic has changed a lot of things, they are proud of the fact that they will continue to lend a helping hand "Normally we would ask people what they are doing during the 67 minutes of Mandela day, but obviously that looks different with the lockdown. For now, we are asking them to give us R67 which is given to people, in a way of feeding them and it is also to tell people that they are not forgotten, we know about them and we care about them and we try to help where we can," he added.
Jazzy D said they will be on the ground in Pretoria on Saturday, to help with the preparations and the distributions of the meals. "On behalf of Pretoria, the area that we can cover we will be hands-on, we will be there when the meals get cooked and handed over to the people, two its a hands-on project."
Deirdre King, Managing Director of Jacaranda FM, said, “It’s truly humbling to see what a massive, life-giving difference can be made in just two days on air, with thousands across South Africa opening their hearts to those less privileged – people they don’t know and may very well never get to meet. We extend our deepest gratitude to every single individual and company that made this possible.”
Martin extended his gratitude to their listeners in lending a helping hand and to Jazzy D for starting this initiative “I’ve always maintained that we have the most generous listeners in the country, if not the world. Thank you to each and every one of you who stepped forward to say ‘I will help’. It is our privilege to get behind Jazzy with this amazing initiative and to make an impactful difference this Mandela Day – offering thousands a hearty, healthy meal!”
More donations can be made to DJ Jazzy D’s project via www.feedafamily.co.za and updates will be made available via his Facebook page: www.facebook.com/djjazzyd, as well as on his show, The House Party with DJ Jazzy D.
Image Credit: Jacaranda.
Image Credit: Jacaranda.