Casual Day, South Africa’s most-loved fundraising initiative for persons with disabilities, raised a record amount of R22.2 million in 2012, beating the previous year’s tally by more than R2 million. The final audited amount was recently announced at a roadshow function at the Jaipur Palace in Durban to honour Casual Day’s top performers in KZN.
The Association for People with Disabilities (APD) KwaZulu Natal, was named the top performing participating APD in the country, raising donations for over 26 000 stickers. APD KZN Director Sheryl Naidoo received the accolade, thanking all participants for their hard work. Tongaat Hulett received a special award for their support of the APD’s Casual Day campaign.
“This is really an incredible achievement,” said Project Leader Celeste Vinassa after the function. “Funds are raised R10 at a time and a tremendous effort goes in, throughout the year, to do fundraising in this way. Not only do the beneficiaries have the immediate benefit of the money they raise, but their donations also help other organisations for person with disabilities all over the country. Our fundraising model is a collective effort that shows that if everyone does something small, it has a huge impact.”
APD KZN was one of 300 energetic and dedicated organisations whose fundraisers have brought in over R170 million over the past 18 years.
Casual Day is the flagship project of the National Council for Persons with Physical Disabilities (NCPPDSA), an NPO mandated to improve education, inclusivity, accessibility and social integration for persons with disabilities.
The funds are the lifeblood of its national beneficiaries – Epilepsy SA, SA Federation for Mental Health, Deaf Federation SA, SA National Council for the Blind and Disabled People South Africa, each of which participate in raising funds from sticker donations, and sales of caps and shirts.
Mac Mia, treasurer of NCPPDSA, explained that fans should take note of exciting changes at Casual Day, saying, “You may be aware that the contract between NCPPDSA (National Council for Persons with Physical Disabilities in South Africa) as the owner of the Casual Day Project, and The Marketing Team (which was contracted to run the operational side of the project), has been terminated. The Marketing Team launched a parallel fund-raising project, in competition with Casual Day™ and considered to be a conflict of interest. NCPPDSA thus terminated the contract with TMT.”
Guest speaker Bruno Druchen, National Director at Deaf Federation of South Africa (DeafSA), gave a presentation on how DeafSA deploys the funding received from Casual Day. The four areas of focus are sign language, deaf education, accessibility and empowerment. He said funding went to qualifying deaf social auxiliary workers, policy for early childhood development, qualifying sign language interpreters, and skills training for deaf persons in rural areas in the fields of panel beating, upholstery and carpentry. Casual Day funds also went to women and youth leadership training.
Next up was disability advocacy activist Nthabiseng Mlongoana, who reminded the audience why it is so important for all South Africans to participate in Casual Day. She has worked at the Free State Association for Persons with Disabilities, one of the organisations that benefit from the proceeds of Casual Day, for the past eight years, serving on various committees of the NCPPDSA. She poignantly told the audience that she identified with Hellen Keller’s words “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
The Casual Day™ theme for 2013 was announced amidst much laughter. “This year we Go Big so whether you wear big hair, a big tie, big shoes, or just go big on the number of stickers you wear, anything goes, as long as it’s big,” said Vinassa.
Casual Day 2013 takes place on Friday 6 September, in continued partnership six main beneficiaries and 300 participating organisations dedicated to advancing the rights of and rendering services for persons with disabilities.
Other top achievers in KZN to receive certificates were:
Schola Amoris School
Merewent Cheshire Hom
KwaZulu Natal Blind Deaf Society
Durban Coastal Mental Health
To order marketing material for your Casual Day campaign, to find out what others are doing to prepare to Go Big, and link to Casual Day’s social networks, visit www.casualday.co.za
Contact numbers for the Casual Day office in Edenvale.
Tel: 011 452 2774 Fax: 011 452 6583
ENDS
April 2013
For more information, photographs and publicity material call
Andrea Vinassa / Media co-ordinator for Casual Day
079 089 9835
URL: http://casualday.co.za
Twitter:
Facebook: https://facebook.com/Casual-Day
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Author: Andrea Vinassa from TorchMedia. Originally distributed by MyPR.co.za.
