CIB Insurance Gives Generously over Christmas

December 1 - In a great show of corporate social responsibility, CIB Insurance Solutions decided to take on a project to help underprivileged kids in South Africa.

The insurance group teamed up with the Kidz2Kidz Santa Shoebox Project which has children from across the country fill a shoebox with gifts for a specific, socially disadvantaged child and send it on to them.

Established in 2006, Kidz2Kidz has been running this project every year since then and has reached thousands of children in this way.

The Head of Marketing at CIB, Frans Nel, said that the insurance group was very keen to take part in the project.

"We are always looking for ways to assist in the upliftment of the youth of our society but it is also important for them to feel loved and the Kidz2Kidz Santa Shoebox Project is a perfect way to bring some joy to these children at this time of year," he said.

Children are essentially asked to create gift boxes by decorating and labeling them.

The child is given the name, age, gender and place of residence of the recipient so that the experience becomes more personal.

CIB's role in the project was to become a drop off point for the Johannesburg area.

"Because of CIB staff assisting with the collecting and checking processes, nearly 4,000 boxes were received at the premises and the shoeboxes were distributed to more than 30 disadvantaged children's homes in the area," said Nel.

CIB staff assisted in a number of ways, working through their lunch breaks and into the evenings and weekends so that the process could go smoothly.

Money was also raised through donations by the company and staff.