Ensuring our children's future

Volunteers from Aon South Africa stepped up to create Christmas decorated shoe boxes for a specific child and generously filled each with gifts.

Volunteers from Aon South Africa passionately donate and distribute the uniquely personalised Christmas shoe boxes to orphans from the Ikholwa Children's Home.

Aon South Africa employees have been on a mission to assist those who are less fortunate than themselves this festive season.

Volunteers from Aon Sandton opened their hearts to orphans by participating in the Aon Santa Shoe Box Project - an inspiring initiative to create and distribute uniquely personalised Christmas gifts for orphans and abandoned children.

Each volunteer stepped up to create a Christmas decorated shoe box for a specific child and generously filled each with basic necessities, a toy, something educational, sweets and a few other special items. The idea is that once the gifts inside the shoe box are removed and enjoyed, the children can keep the shoe box and fill it with their own special items. The boxes were donated to children from the Ikholwa Children's Home, Yenzani Children's Home and two orphanages in Blairgowrie and Robindale that are part of the Aces of Love organisation. Sixty four orphans and nine house parents in total received a shoebox and gifts this Christmas.

In addition, Aon South Africa decided not to purchase golf shirts for each golfer that played in its Golf Day this year, and rather donated the money to the Nyeleti's Children's Home, Yenzani Children's Home and Action for Blind and Disabled Children. Aon also encouraged the golfers to donate any second-hand golf shirt and from this, 75 shirts were donated to the United Cerebral Palsy Association of South Africa.

Nyeleti's Children's home - a registered home for 40 children - received R10 000 to send 15 of the children to a game farm in Mpumalanga for the summer holidays. Some of these children had never been on a holiday trip before, so this was a very memorable vacation for them. Yenzani Children's Home - a registered home for abandoned, abused and orphaned children - received R5 000 to purchase school books, stationery and uniforms for the children during 2011. Action for Blind and Disabled Children - a registered NGO and the only institution in South Africa that provides free IT tuition for blind, deaf and disabled people, as well as free Grade 12 for the blind or disabled, free transport to and from lessons and a free meal on class days as well as re-training for people injured in accidents - received R5 000.

"There are so many people in need of assistance," says Liza Kok, Marketing and Projects Manager at Aon South Africa. "We hope that in some way our contributions will make an impact. We feel honoured to have been able to assist these children and bring some joy into their lives this festive season," she concludes.