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Entertainment | 19 Aug 2019 | By Sun International

GrandWest Gives Back

Annual Commemorative Mandela Day

What is Corporate Social Responsibility, and why does it matter? Globally, society has become more and more conscious of the fact that business has a significant effect on the evironment in which it operates. Everything we do impacts the environment or community in some way, whether it is grocery shopping, eating at a beautiful restaurant or staying in a hotel; every single thing we do has an impact on the world around us.

Long before there was a regulatory requirement for corporations to invest in the communities in which they work, GrandWest saw community investment as an integral part of our culture. To this end, we have rolled out sustainable investment programmes that continue to have a positive impact on the communities in which we work and which are affected by our operations.

More than a one-time gesture of goodwill

Many charitable donation drives or one-off programmes have a significant effect in the short term, but often fall short when it comes to making a long-term sustainable difference that’s required in the daily lives of the charity’s beneficiaries. At GrandWest we believe that Corporate Social Investment (CSI) projects should be far more than just a donation drop-off or token undertaking. Through a range of community initiatives that support Cape Town’s citizens, GrandWest staff, associates and suppliers have become actively involved in making a real change to organisations and programmes found in their own neighbourhood. Take a look at some of our best corporate social responsibility programmes over the years:

Take a Girl Child to Work Day®

Despite advances in legislation, the majority of women in South Africa still suffer from gender inequality and are underrepresented in the workplace, especially in corporate leadership positions.

Since inception in 2003, the Take a Girl Child to Work Day® initiative has seen participating corporates organising for female school pupils — usually from disadvantaged backgrounds — to spend the day at their place of work with the aim of empowering the girl child. The rationale behind the initiative is that, for many girls, the day spent shadowing top executives and entrepreneurs opens up a world of hope and inspires young women to work hard to achieve their dreams.

Eighteen grade 10 and grade 11 girls considering a career in the entertainment and hospitality industry were treated to a day at GrandWest, as part of the Take a Girl Child to Work Day initiative, on 25 May 2017. The girls, from Heideveld Senior Secondary School in Heideveld, Khulani High School in Langa and Intsebenziswano High School in Philippi, enjoyed a first-hand insight into the inner workings of the GrandWest complex. The Take a Girl Child to Work Day Cape Town learners experienced first-hand the diverse career opportunities in various departments at GrandWest, from information technology, finance, marketing and payroll to human resources, food and beverage, entertainment, and the hotel.

GrandWest Schools Renovation Programme

The Schools Renovation Programme in the Western Cape, part of a nationwide initiative by Sun International, is focused on upgrading hospitality classrooms at schools in underprivileged communities, to properly equip learners to pursue further studies and careers in the hospitality sector. GrandWest facilitated the much-needed upgrade of Garlandale High School’s new consumer studies classroom, one of 10 schools to benefit from the programme.

The natural progression from renovating and providing hospitality classrooms with new appliances such as stoves, fridges and in some cases even running water, has been to ensure that every hospitality studies learner in grade 10, 11 and 12 has access to a hospitality curriculum online. This project, referred to as the Digital Hospitality Curriculum Programme, was developed in partnership with the Department of Basic Education. Launched in April 2017, the vision of the programme is to continuously add and update the curriculum using content created by the users themselves.

Chefs That Care

The Chefs that Care initiative was born from the desire of GrandWest’s food and beverage team to use their skills and passion to make a positive impact on the lives of those less fortunate in surrounding communities.

With unemployment rife in many Western Cape communities, coupled with the high cost of living, the reality is that many people do not have access to one balanced meal a day. Among the most marginalised and most affected are children and the elderly. Sadly, their nutritional requirements are not being met, resulting in a compromised quality of life and poor health.

Between August 2016 and January 2017, Chefs that Care helped feed 100 adults once a month at the First Feed Elim Night Shelter. Other interventions include feeding children and adults in Mitchells Plain, Pelican Park, Ottery, Strandfontein and Schaapkraal.

SOS Children’s Village

The SOS Children’s Village in Cape Town is one of the organisations regularly supported by the GrandWest community outreach programmes. Established more than 30 years ago, SOS Children’s Villages have been making a genuine impact on the lives of orphaned and abandoned children in South Africa.

Situated just outside of central Cape Town, the Cape Town SOS Children’s Village cares for more than 140 children, providing them with a loving home, support programmes and essential counselling and guidance services. The SOS Children’s Village model rests on the idea of creating families, so within the village, there are a number of family homes each headed up by an SOS mother.

From 28 to 31 October 2014, more than 80 members of the GrandWest staff complement left their desks and headed to the SOS Children’s Village to undertake a range of repairs and renovations to make the organisation’s buildings and amenities a little better and brighter for all who work and reside at the village.

Beyond repairs and renovations though, the GrandWest team also cleaned rooms, hung new curtains and fitted bedrooms with bright, fresh linen. Members of the Granny’s Green Nursery team also created a special hydroponics garden that will be used by the SOS Children’s Village to grow their own herbs and vegetables.

SHAWCO Health Clinics

Since 1943 SHAWCO, the Student’s Health and Welfare Centres Organisation has developed a reputation for delivering quality primary health care in under-resourced communities in Cape Town. SHAWCO is a University of Cape Town student-run, non-profit community outreach organisation. It relies on over 100 volunteer doctors and 800 medical and allied health science students in all years of study to ensure that these student-run free clinics continue to be delivered.

SHAWCO Health co-ordinates six clinics which operate at night on a weekly basis in various Cape Town communities as well as paediatric clinics every second Saturday morning. These clinics often serve as the only port-of-call for community members who work during the day, or who cannot make the trip to the neighbouring day hospital. The clinics either operate from permanent health facilities or SHAWCO Health’s three, fully-equipped mobile clinics.

GrandWest has been SHAWCO Health's most prominent sponsor to date. Over the past years, their contribution has been over 10 million Rand.ensuring that the underprivileged community has access to essential healthcare services.

Annual Commemorative Mandela Day

As part of our commitment to support Mandela Day, we participate in the Stop Hunger Now campaign. The initiative focuses on poverty alleviation and sees GrandWest staff together with participating corporates pack meals that feed over 58 000 children across the country.

Going Green at GrandWest

To achieve our environmental goals, we integrate environmental management into sustainable business practices, with specific emphasis on energy, water, waste and our carbon footprint.

  • Improving electricity efficiency: We use the most efficient and cost-effective energy technology where possible.
  • educing water supply: To ensure a secure supply of water for our guests, water remains a key focus area at GrandWest.
  • Zero-Waste-to-Landfill: We are heading for a Zero-Waste-to-Landfill by 2020 goal by encouraging the redesign of resource lifecycles - reduce, reuse, recycle!
  • Reducing greenhouse emissions: We are working to lower our greenhouse gas impact by identifying and evaluating various carbon reduction projects with the view to purchase carbon credits to offset carbon emissions by 2020.
  • Sustaining food security: We believe value is in the value chain and through identifying initiatives such as sourcing fresh produce from local communities and committing to serve sustainable seafood in all our restaurants, is the first step towards developing and sustaining our food supply chain.

By optimising energy efficiency across its operations, and by implementing energy-saving technologies, GrandWest has reduced its energy consumption by a staggering 7%.

Granny’s Green Nursery

As part of our ongoing commitment to green our offerings, our Granny’s Green Nursery uses food waste from the kitchen and hotel as bio-friendly compost. The food waste is stored and broken down in sealed containers for two months, before being added to the worm farm on site. Once the worms have done their part, the bio-friendly compost is then used in GrandWest’s vegetable garden (which supplies the property’s kitchens with organic goodness). Additionally, GrandWest’s Fynbos nursery, which was set up to propagate and conserve local flora, benefits from the worm compost too.

Tehillah Collaborative Community Centre

On 7 August 2019 GrandWest handed over donations worth R695 000 to the Tehillah Collaborative Community Centre. The homeless shelter in Elsies Rivier centre assists people in the community who are on social grants with addiction recovery, youth development, early childhood development and frail care.

The handover ceremony was attended by ward councillor of the area, Franchesca Walker; Alderman Clive Justus; representatives of the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board; as well as members of the Western Cape Casino Committee. David Lakay, Chairperson of the Casino Committee, and Mervyn Naidoo, General Manager GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World also attended the event.