Santa on a cellphone as SA’s online gift group spreads joy
● ’Tis the season to be giving — but thousands of ordinary South Africans have been playing Father Christmas every day of the year.
They are the more than 14,000 members of the Ultimate Gift group on Facebook, who since going live in March have given out dream weddings and jobs, fixed flood-damaged homes and fed hundreds of people.
Now, the group’s Christmas wish list has more than 1,000 requests. Among them is one from a man asking for help to pay lobola so he can marry his sweetheart. Hundreds ask for a proper Christmas meal for the first time in their lives. Some are hoping a job offer will be in their Christmas stocking.
When Cheryl Naidoo, an operational manager at a footwear company, started the group, she never expected it to help so many people in such a short space of time.
She also didn’t expect to receive a car from an anonymous donor last month to help her deliver donated goods to the needy.
Naidoo, who doesn’t receive a salary for running the group, said the success of the group lies solely with ordinary South Africans helping each other.
“Someone posts a request. Another member will then fulfil that request. If someone needs a pair of school shoes for their child, another member may have a pair their child no longer uses and will donate it to the one who needs it,” she said.
Naidoo, from Phoenix, north of Durban, started the group because she could no longer ignore pleas for help on social media.
“Browsing through social media on a daily basis and reading the cries for help on various groups was a huge motivation for this, most importantly the need of food. This was something which I just could not ignore.
“A few years ago, my family went through an extremely trying time. Although we had a house and a vehicle, we had no idea where our next meal was coming from. I wanted to assist people with a place to turn to if they found themselves in a similar situation.”
The group receives between 40 and 60 requests a day and has now been registered has a nonprofit organisation.
“There was a request for a little boy who is challenged with cerebral palsy. He needed a specialised walker to help him with mobility and his family could not afford this. We managed to raise the funds for him to get this and a new bed in less than 30 minutes,” said Naidoo.
Rukaiya Fortune, an unemployed single mother of three boys aged between one and 10, was desperate for detergents after hers were stolen from her house in an informal settlement near Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal.
“I was so desperate. It was a tight month. I didn’t even have washing powder or soap to wash the clothes or dishes. I posted the request and hoped that someone would help.”
A member of the group immediately responded.
“She arrived with the detergents and then insisted on taking me to the local supermarket where she bought me groceries valued at over R800,” said Fortune.
Fortune wanted to return the favour.
“The generosity on that group inspired me. I don’t have a lot to give but I wanted to help someone so I offered a pair of shoes that did not fit my son. I wanted to make someone as happy as they made me.”
The Southern Africa Institute of Fundraising said there is an increase in the number of charities and individuals raising money and donating gifts on social media.
“The efforts of ordinary people like Cheryl Naidoo cannot be underestimated. Each of us holds in our hands a mobile device that can impact the lives of many and ultimately serve a greater good,” said the institute’s president, Gordon McDonald.