Our end-of-year donations are in and we are so proud to announce the results! We have about $6,000 in our bank account now!

So how does that translate to aid for children in need?

We now have enough money to buy school medical and sports kits for all 22 schools in the Knysna Education Trust. We also have enough to buy supply backpacks for 99 students!

Our goal is to provide all 22 school kits and 350 backpacks, which would be backpacks for 1 in 4 children in the schools. Now we're working toward filling those other 251 backpacks! 

Thank you so, so, so much to our donors who have been so generous! We're a little more than 6 months away from our trip and $4,000 from our goal!

Happy Holidays! Our first ever donation campaign - Kits for Kids - is off and running. We are proud to report that generous donors have sponsored THREE school kits and TWO backpacks so far! We are so excited! We are inching closer and closer to our goal every day. Right now we are 45 percent of the way there! We hope to break the halfway mark by the end of the year, but we need your help! Please consider sponsoring a backpack for a child or a kit for an entire school. Your donations make a difference in children's lives!

The Vista, the student newspaper at the University of Oklahoma, has a story today about the Vilakazi Foundation. Congratulations to President Leigh Jacobs and College Liaison Lauren Dennison! Click here to read the story.

Thank you so much to all of our wonderful volutneers who braved the heat of the 2010 Plaza District Festival! Our volunteers report the the festival was a lot of fun. They were able to hand out candy and talk to people about Vilakazi's mission and the upcoming Playground Throw Down rock-paper-scissors tournament. We were able to sign up some new folks to join our email newsletter. (Interested in joining? Sign up here.)

Thanks again to our fantastic volunteers! Your time means the world to us!

We are so excited about our rock-paper-scissors tournament! The Playground Throw Down will be Dec. 8 at Brix, an absolutely awesome restaurant in Bricktown. It's open to all ages and should be a ton of fun! The event will include drink specials, appetizer deals and some fierce competition. And it only costs $5 to play! Proceeds will go to supporting our mission of helping South African children lead better lives by improving access to health, education and athletics.

We're looking for all kinds of volunteers who can help us plan and promote this exciting event. Our next meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. Wendesday, Oct. 13 at Cuppies and Joe, 727 NW 23. Join us! Our meetings are always open, and we'd love to have all the volunteer help we can get!