This gives Bidvest the perfect opportunity to also honour women throughout South Africa. For this reason Bethany Home in Bertrams, Johannesburg was chosen. It provides shelter to women and their children who are escaping abuse at the hands of husbands or partners.
Brian Joffe, Bidvest's chief executive, explains that the work done by the shelter ties in perfectly with the aims of the group's corporate social investment (CSI) initiatives. "Bethany Home helps the most vulnerable among us to get back on their feet, which ties into our own CSI philosophy of giving people the tools to be self-sufficient in a sustainable manner."
Pledge is a blessing
The shelter helps women to be self-reliant through counseling, skills development and assistance with school placement for their children. Once the women are emotionally stable and the children settled in school, her interests and levels of education are assessed, and she is sent on training courses to acquire skills necessary for a job in the field she wishes to pursue. The whole rehabilitation process takes between six and 12 months.
Bethany Home's manager, Bridget Edwards, described Bidvest's pledge as a blessing. "Without the assistance of companies like Bidvest, we would struggle to assist the women and children that need our help the most. In anticipation of Friday's match, we would like to thank Bidvest Wits and their fans for contributing to our initiative."
Joffe concludes that it is the responsibility of corporate companies to give back to communities surrounding their operations. "In collaboration with Bidvest Wits it was decided to harness the passion of soccer fans to make a difference to a worthy cause. As community involvement and upliftment is very important to Bidvest and the Clever Boys' fan base, we decided that the match on Women's Day is the perfect platform to support Bethany Home, and to raise awareness of the sterling work that they do to help rehabilitate abused women and children."
