If you’re a regular reader you’ll know I’m a big supporter of MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet fund-raising holder programme. Not familiar? It works like this – sign up for a free card online and select up to three schools, charities and conservation organisations you’d like to support. Then, when you swipe your card while shopping at an affiliated retailer, they make a donation to your selected beneficiaries at no cost to you. It’s the easiest, ‘no excuses’ way to give back while you shop.

To view the list of participating stores you can click here but know that just a few of a the biggies include Woolworths, Engen Foodstops, Flight Centre and loot.co.za.

To celebrate a very successful year of giving back, MySchool very kindly offered to donate R2 500 to one of six charities and I picked Thohoyandou Primary School, a no-fees Venda speaking school in Pretoria.

They also sent me a cookie the size of my face!

If you haven’t yet signed up for a MySchool card, please do! Giving back is as simple as a swipe. This year alone, thanks to cardholders across the country, the organisation was able to hand over a whopping R 70,319,673.21 (yep, that’s a very exact figure) to charities in need. Apparently their animal causes did very well, with the SPCA alone receiving just over a million rand. The Red Cross Hospital did well too – it gifted with almost R200 000.

So, before you start your Christmas shopping, please make your purchases count by signing up here.

Love, love

Leigh