Sparks Estate Cheshire Home, situated in Durban, is a registered welfare facility that provides care for 60 mentally and physically disabled residents. Established in 1979 and in existence for 40 years, the Home offers care to local communities.
This Marianhill based non-profit organisation was formed in 2008 by community members who cared for orphaned and vulnerable children. The organisation also has other programmes that include HIV/Aids awareness programmes, home-based care services and computer literacy, among the various other initiatives that they are involved in.
This organisation was founded by a group of dynamic women from Newlands East, who aim to support and give back to their community. Its services include the distribution of donated items, assisting survivors with their GBV cases and conducting prevention participatory training workshops and community support programmes.
The Ukukhanya kweSizwe Community Development is a non-profit organisation in KwaMashu that focusses on an array of factors that contribute towards holistic community development. These aspects include educational development, women and children development, and health programmes.
In an effort to make a larger impact on the community, Hollywoodbets chose to team up with their cricket brand ambassador, Mike Procter, to show some much-needed COVID-19 relief support to the community of Phoenix in KwaZulu-Natal. He has been involved with the school for 10 years, offers cricket coaching to the children free of charge and runs the physical education programme for over 1100 children.
In partnership with Mike, Hollywoodbets embraced the Ottawa Community as part of their COVID-19 relief response. Two separate handovers took place through the Ottawa Primary school. A total of 450 food parcels were distributed to vulnerable families of the learners, as well as to other community members who were in dire need.
The Comrades Marathon is one of the biggest annual events that takes place in KwaZulu-Natal. Like many others, this event too had to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, 2020 saw the first ever Comrades Virtual Race Campaign. Hollywoodbets, who are the usual halfway mark sponsors of the race, wanted to ensure that they could still be involved in some way or the other. The company, therefore, made a donation of R12 500 which went towards supplying 95 food hampers to the community of Esikhelekehleni in Drummond.
“We have been involved in the Comrades Marathon for the past 11 years, and more specifically with this community for the past four years. Usually, we donate excess supplies to the Esikhelekehleni community and this year too, we wanted to ensure that we continued supporting them. We have seen how much the developments have grown over the past few years and we are really excited to be back for another handover,” said Brand and Communication Manager for Hollywoodbets, Devin Heffer.
The 1000th winner in KwaZulu-Natal horse racing’s Grooms Initiative, proudly powered by Hollywoodbets and Gold Circle, brought up the significant milestone of R1 Million having been awarded to winning grooms since its inception in October 2019. The 1000th winner received his prize at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Wednesday, 6 January 2021 in the final race of the day.
The initiative sees the rewarding of R1 000 to the groom of the winning horse of every race at the Hollywoodbets Greyville and Hollywoodbets Scottsville racecourses, over and above the earnings paid out from their stable. Bongani Mayeshema, the groom of the 6-year-old gelding, LESLIES PATHTOFAME, was announced as the 1000th Grooms Initiative winner on Wednesday, 6 January. Mr Mayeshema, who works for trainer Frank Robinson, was presented with the normal R1 000 cash incentive, a commemorative trophy and an additional bonus of R1 000 for being the 1000th milestone winner.
Hollywoodbets’ My Community Programme and Nomzamo Mbatha’s Lighthouse Foundation united to donate R1.35 million to South Africans suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, via their “Brighter Future” campaign. South African starlet Nomzamo Mbatha partnered with Hollywoodbets to reach out to those who truly need it. Hollywoodbets made One Million Rand available to the My Community Programme in order to bring some relief, and a brighter future to NPOs and NGOs across South Africa’s nine different provinces. This initiative provided financial support to several beneficiaries, basic hygiene items, food as well as other essentials. The Lighthouse Foundation and the Hollywoodbets My Community Programme also made a R50 000 donation to the Nelson Mandela Foundation as well as a R300 000 contribution towards the Solidarity Fund.
Hollywoodbets committed to donating a total of R2 250 000 to the National Horse Trust (NHT) over a period of three years. Horse racing is a large part of the business, so it was an important organisation for the Hollywoodbets team to invest in. This large investment will enable the NHT, and the horse care units operating under its umbrella, to continue doing the important work of caring for retired racehorses, and neglected and abused equines, as well as continuing rural outreach educational programmes to help those relying on horses and donkeys as a means of income.
The NHT has been looking after the health and protection of equines since 1988. Currently, the Trust is the benefactor of three affiliated care units located in Gauteng, Port Elizabeth and KwaZulu-Natal. Even though the organisation was started specifically with the care and protection of retired race horses in mind, it has extended its sphere of influence and responsibility to now embrace all neglected and abused horses and donkeys. The NHT achieves this by educating rural equine owners on how to properly care for these animals, as well as relocating abused or neglected horses and donkeys when needed. The Trust heavily relies on donations from the public in order to continue doing this important work.
