This year has proven stormy on so many levels, and the economic chaos resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic has left non-profit organisations like the Rally to Read, reeling. As a non-profit organisation of 23 years standing, Rally to Read has worked tirelessly to promote literacy at grassroots level, in remote rural schools across South Africa. Over 1 000 schools have been reached through the programme, which involves visiting selected Rally schools to deliver books, teaching aids, educational equipment and more. In conjunction with this, the Rally also provides teacher training, classroom support, and mentoring over a three-year period.
Covid-19: hurting literacy where it’s needed most
The year started off on an excellent note, with one of six rallies successfully held in Mpumalanga in March. Then the year fell apart, lockdown was implemented and imminent Rallies were cancelled. Given the pandemic logistics, it was decided that virtual Rally school tours would be held, to keep private and corporate sponsors appraised of the Rally schools’ progress. With corporate and private donors feeling the pinch, Rally to Read was in a quandary in terms of raising adequate funds to complete the 2020 Rally programme.
Angels to the rescue: The Jonsson Foundation steps in
The Jonsson Foundation, Rally to Read’s lead partner, has promised to match all new 2020 sponsorships, RAND FOR RAND, up to a total of R500 000! Jonsson’s pay-it-forward gesture can potentially make a huge dent in Rally to Read’s 2020 target, and while half the pledges are for the Western Cape, this attractive rand-for-rand pledge is limited to the Rally’s Drakensberg, Eastern Cape and Free State programmes. It applies to pledges made from 23 July 2020.
