Wakefields Staff Went Way Beyond 67 Minutes For Mandela Day...

Wakefields staff across Kwazulu-Natal weren’t clock-watching on Mandela Day. They turned 67 minutes into a concept rather than a time period, and put their energy into the underlying spirit of it. The Wakefields’ sixty-seven minutes became a drive over days to collect food and toiletries for iCare...an organisation which works tirelessly to care for street children, ensure they’re schooled, and reintegrate them meaningfully into society. 

By Mandela Day, Wakefields’ staff had collected over 4 000 items valued at over R20 000!

For a number of years now, Caring the #WakefieldsWay has been an operational blueprint for each staff member, whether it relates to buyers, sellers or local charities. Marketing Director Haydn Wakefield took the opportunity leading up to Mandela Day to up the stakes by creating an additional staff incentive which not only had the staff working together in their respective branches, but injected an element of fun and competitiveness into the overall experience. Wakefield was extremely proud of the outcome: “It’s probably the best example of Caring the #WakefieldsWay I’ve seen since its inception.” No doubt, the iCare team would agree.

When the iCare team stepped into the Wakefields’ boardroom and saw the mountain of supplies, their faces said it all. The collection will be put into monthly food parcels and delivered to the homes where street children have been placed to ensure they no longer need live on the streets.

As Wakefield said, “We piggy-backed a fun, team-building internal competition on to the huge efforts being made by our staff for Mandela Day - it’s immensely gratifying that it’s had such positive, far-reaching results.” For every 67 items of food or toiletries collected, the relevant office received an entry into the R1000 Lucky Draw Pot...eventually won by the Kloof branch. In addition, some offices had already organised local collections in their own areas, among others Richard Patrick in the Midlands arranged a milk collection for "Free Me", an Animal Rehabilitation Centre, Clive Cowan and his Shelly Beach team donated blankets to the local SPCA, and Kay Bruneau from the Bluff gave support to the well being of township dogs.

As Wakefield said, "Caring the #WakefieldsWay is not just about caring on Mandela Day. It's a caring way of looking at everything we do at Wakefields."