I’m guessing you’ve heard about the Twitter Blanket Drive & thought to yourself, what the hell does Twitter need a blanket for?
Well it doesn’t, but a whole bunch of people in South Africa (and the world for that matter) do, especially during the coldest months of the year. No one deserves to be cold, ever.
Initiated in 2010 by Founder, Melanie Minnaar, the Twitter Blanket Drive started with a single thought & a simple tweet:
‘What if each person on Twitter donated a blanket for the poor.’
That year Melanie managed to collect & distribute hundreds of blankets… & created an annual, uniquely South African, community-driven response to the needs of the poor during the winter months of the year called “The Twitter Blanket Drive”.
Since then, the Twitter Blanket Drive movement has grown exponentially. In 2015, over 30 000 blankets were collected by the Twitter Blanket Drive and donated to organisations who assist the needy, homeless and indigent. All beneficiaries of the Twitter Blanket Drive are verified Non-Profit Organisations (NPOS), registered with the Department of Social Development. All beneficiaries for the national drive are verified through national networking organisation info4africa (www.info4africa.org.za).
The most amazing part about this… it isn’t owned by anyone & the movement now belongs to everyone.
Events are held around the country to collect all the blankets by volunteers & then volunteers distribute the blankets to charities nominated by the public.
All you have to do to attend the events is bring a blanket or few.
“This isn’t my event, this is our event. This drive belongs to everyone who wants to be part of the change we all need in South Africa.”
“This means all you have to do is invite yourself to join your own channel of hope. Invite yourself to do what you can with what you have. Every effort made adds up. No matter how big or small. Everyone is welcome and every effort adds up. The choice to be at the event and to help us help them is all yours.”
If you can’t make the event then you can help raise awareness… create a post & use the hashtag #TBD2015 to tell people about this amazing cause!
This is your personal invite to use the online voice you have to help us all make an effort to help those less fortunate, and to see how donating one blanket can even restore your own faith in our nation.
The official hashtag is #TBD2016
The hashtag applies across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube & most social networks… for more info, click here or you can also get in touch with these accounts…
Official Handle @TBDAfrica
Cape Town @merentia
Johannesburg @serenacg
Pretoria @khanyisakn
Durban @fredfelton
West Coast @westcoastwaySA
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