You can never underestimate the power of the media.

We have a voice, and when we use that voice to effect positive change, I am still somehow surprised when the impact is huge.

It was Jim Morrison who said: “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.”

And we at IOL set out to change just one mind about the housing insecure, or homeless. We spent the month of August — Women’s Month in South Africa — highlighting the stories of South Africa’s homeless women.

Women’s Month campaigns often focus on the most successful women in our country, but we decided to change tack, an idea born out the Dignity Project I was part of during my tenure at the Cape Argus.

In planning the series of stories, tasking our journalists with going out and interviewing the housing insecure women of the three biggest metros — Cape Town, Joburg and Durban — we also decided to do a collection drive for organisations that support the housing insecure, and women on the streets in particular.

A sanitary towel drive seemed the most appropriate option. When we spoke to one of our partners prior to the launch of the campaign, they asked us: “And how are the women meant to wear these pads? No-one donates pre-owned underwear...”

So we set about gathering supplies. We aimed to collect 100 dignity packs per region; the packs would consist of a pack of underwear, socks, disposable razors, toothbrushes, soap, sanitary towels, and roll-on deodorant. Once we’d made the call to our audiences, clients and partners, they answered.

Within two weeks, we had gathered all the supplies we needed — 300 dignity packs ready for distribution to the most vulnerable in our society, women often forgotten and overlooked, many times treated as sub-human.

The experiences we had during this drive were life-changing.

One of our sales team members called us and asked us to meet a someone downstairs at the ground floor of our building. We were expecting a small delivery from a man on a scooter. A light truck pulled up, and out came six boxes of soap, and six boxes of roll-on. Nappy Warehouse called and said they would supply all the sanitary towels we needed. Cape Grand China said they would supply all the underwear and socks we needed, along with gift bags to package the goodies. Hell, they soon decided to cover our disposable razor, facecloths, and soap needs as well.

Our colleagues and staff also pitched in phenomenally. In fact, a family member of one of my team members in Durban, the owner of EIS Engineering and Industrial Supplies gave us toothpaste and soap. Our colleagues in the finance departments of Independent Media and Last Mile Logistics, our shared HR department, our colleagues at Survé Philanthropies, and each and every one of the staff members at IOL, contributed to make this campaign a success. Our colleagues from other businesses who share our office space also helped fill the collection boxes.

Now the challenge of how to distribute the items...

The bulk of the supplies was at our head office in Cape Town, and we had committed to delivering at least 100 packs each in Durban and Joburg. How would we get all these items to where they need to be? Enter a Good Samaritan, who asked not to be named or thanked, who asked us to send him the invoice for the courier company, and he paid. Just like that.

The handover of the gift bags was also an emotional affair. In all three regions, the recipients were appreciative, sang songs, and shared further stories with us about the impact Elevate HER had on their lives, even in small ways. We handed out more than 300 gift packs across the country.

But the highlight of the campaign for me was the incredible story of Patricia Kaiser, the first woman featured in our content drive. In our first story of the Elevate HER campaign, she implored: “I don’t want to live on the street... I want to live in a house and be reunited with my children.”

The children she was referring to were three minor children who had been placed with a foster family. A former classmate of Patricia’s reached out to us after her video was shared on TikTok. The children now want to meet their mother, who they thought was deceased.

What’s more, an older child of Patricia’s also reached out to us, and we hosted an emotional reunion at our offices. Patricia last saw her 27 years ago.

This is the power of the media.

I want to thank everyone involved in the project, from our staff to each of the individual contributors and companies who supported us with goods and services. And I want to thank our readers for their support.

* Lance Witten is the Editor of IOL.

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