Author: Azhar Obaray

Every year on 18 July, Mandela Day asks the same simple question: what can you do with 67 minutes? The number comes from the 67 years Nelson Mandela spent in public service, and the idea is that if he could give that much of his life to others, the rest of us can give just over an hour of ours. This year, Core Catering Supplies is proud to stand behind that spirit by supporting Living Hope, a Cape Town organisation doing exactly the kind of grounded, everyday community work that Mandela Day was built to celebrate.

If you’re looking for somewhere real to put your time, energy, or a donation this year, Living Hope is worth knowing about.

Where It Started

Living Hope began in 2000 as a small, community-driven initiative in Cape Town. What started as a local response to a specific crisis, the HIV/AIDS epidemic hitting communities hard at the time, grew into something far bigger: a full-scale model for tackling poverty, illness, addiction, and instability from every angle at once.

Today, Living Hope runs from 8 community hubs across the Western and Eastern Cape, with plans to expand into the Free State in 2026. It’s staffed by more than 220 people, backed by a dedicated volunteer network, and in 2025 alone, it directly reached 121,823 people through over 1.8 million interventions.

What They Actually Do

Living Hope’s approach is built on the idea that you can’t fix one problem in a person’s life without addressing the others around it. Their work spans six interconnected programmes:

Healthcare & Community-Based Care Home-based care, chronic illness support, and palliative care, plus a 22-bed Health Care Centre offering recuperation and respite for patients recovering from hospitalisation. Their Home Based Care programme currently operates across six different communities, bringing support directly to people’s homes rather than expecting them to travel for it.

Recovery Services An outpatient substance abuse recovery programme built on a three-phase model. Clients attend daily sessions but return home each night, meaning they’re practicing what they learn in the actual environment they need to navigate long-term, not a removed facility.

Life Skills & Education Programmes designed to build resilience, values, and future employability in children and teens, equipping the next generation with tools that go beyond the classroom.

The Job Centre Practical, hands-on employment support: sourcing job opportunities, helping people apply, and running training to improve interview and job-seeking skills for those trying to re-enter the workforce.

Agricultural & Business Training A four-phase programme that takes students from classroom lectures straight onto a working farm, teaching both agricultural skills and business fundamentals. Trainees even form small enterprises while they study, earning an income while they learn to become the next generation of South African farmers and entrepreneurs.

Child & Family Protection Early intervention services, trauma care and counselling, and support for those affected by gender-based violence, alongside ongoing advocacy for vulnerable children.

Why This Fits the Spirit of the Day

Mandela Day isn’t about a single grand gesture. It’s about small, consistent, practical acts of service, the same principle Living Hope has built its entire model on for 25 years. They don’t try to solve one problem in isolation. A family dealing with chronic illness might also need job support. A teenager in the life skills programme might have a parent in the recovery programme. By running all of these under one roof, Living Hope catches people at multiple points instead of losing them in the gaps that usually exist between separate services.

It’s exactly the kind of sustained, on-the-ground work that Core Catering Supplies wanted to get behind this Mandela Day, work that doesn’t stop when the day ends, but keeps running all year for the communities that need it most.

How to Give Your 67 Minutes

Living Hope relies heavily on donations and volunteers to keep its hubs running. If you’re based in Cape Town and want to put this Mandela Day to real use, it’s worth reaching out directly to see where the need is greatest right now.

Too Soft? She Became a Financial Manager

You know that feeling when you meet someone who just quietly gets on with it, no fuss, no fanfare, just results? That’s Lee Hassen. And this Mother’s Day, we’re shining a light on one of our own.

It started with an interview she will never forget

Lee walked into her interview at Core Catering in 2002, young, hopeful, and pregnant with her first child. The interviewer looked at her and said something she has carried with her ever since: you will not be able to handle the directors. You are too soft.

Two weeks later, the phone rang anyway. Would you like to come in and do some work until you go on maternity leave? She said yes and that changed everything.

She started working alongside the then financial manager, doing small things and quietly proving herself. When maternity leave ended, he called and asked if she wanted to come back. Lee said yes. Of course she did.

Two decades of showing up

From those early days she moved through data capturing, accounts, and imports, spreading her wings across both Core Catering and Core Furniture along the way. She left for a year and a half, came back without missing a beat, welcomed her second child in 2009, and kept going.

Then Core Catering brought her into their finance department. It was not exactly a hard sell. Lee had made the joke herself. Put me in finance, she said. Two months later, they did exactly that.

She built her knowledge from the ground up. In 2013 she travelled to China with Core Furniture. In 2015 she represented Core Catering in Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Every experience added a layer. And when COVID hit and the world went quiet, Lee went deeper, mastering financial management in full. She was appointed Assistant Financial Manager, and then in 2022 officially took on the role of Financial Manager.

Not bad for the woman they once called too soft.

The mom behind it all

What makes Lee’s story really special is that she did all of this while raising two children. Her first arrived in 2002, her second in 2009. Two kids, one demanding career, and countless days where both needed her at the same time.

She is honest about it. When a baby is sick, they need their mom. There were days she chose a family, and she did so without apology. But every time she stepped away, she stepped back in twice as ready. She never coasted. She always puts in the extra. And Core has always made space for that, which is exactly the kind of place worth giving your best to.

Her advice for any mom trying to balance it all? Take it step by step. Set out what is important and trust that everything else will fall into place.

This Mother’s Day we celebrate Lee Hassen. The woman who walked into an interview pregnant and built a career spanning over two decades. The data capturer who became a Financial Manager. The mom who showed her children that you can be devoted to your family and exceptional at your work, and that one does not have to cost you the other.

So, who is Tammy van Bergen?

Ask anyone in the Randburg hospitality scene and they’ll know the name. Maybe you’ve come across her gracious smile around the shop, or maybe she’s the rep who remembered your birthday when no one else did. Tammy is the kind of person who arrives early, stays late, helps in the shop, checks in on her team, and somehow still makes every client feel like they’re her only priority. She hasn’t just built a career at Core Catering Randburg. She’s built a reputation. And in this industry, that means everything.

It started young, and it started with real passion

Tammy didn’t wait around to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. Fresh out of high school at 19, she dived straight into the deep end of hospitality, working in hotels, restaurants, and yes, even a cruise ship. Not exactly a slow start. And she’ll tell you herself that those years gave her something no classroom ever could: a genuine understanding of the needs, the pressure, and the beautiful chaos of the industry from the inside.

But even then, she knew there was more to explore. The catering supply world was calling her name, and in 2014, she answered, walking through the doors of Core Catering Randburg as a tele salesperson and ready for the next chapter.

Finding her feet, and then finding her fire

Telesales, it turned out, wasn’t quite where Tammy was meant to shine. She’s a people person in the truest sense, and it didn’t take long before she realised her energy belonged face to face with the clients she genuinely cared about. Moving into an in-store role changed things. Her product knowledge grew. Her confidence built. Her people skills deepened into something that clients started coming back for, again and again.

Was it easy? Not always. Stepping into a high-demand environment and figuring out how to meet the expectations of both customers and colleagues at the same time is no small thing. But Tammy had people in her corner.

“The support I received from my parents, colleagues, and management played a significant role in my growth. Their encouragement helped me become a stronger and more confident individual, both personally and professionally.”

That support, she’ll be the first to tell you, was everything.

The milestone that made it all worth it

Here’s where things get really exciting. After coming close more times than she can count, Tammy finally hit the R1 million sales mark in a single month. One million rand. She describes the moment simply as “rewarding” but if you know how many near-misses came before it, you know exactly how much weight those words carry.

And the road to get there wasn’t without its bumps. COVID-19 shook the entire hospitality industry, and Tammy felt every bit of it. Shifts in management, ownership, and team dynamics added more layers to an already demanding few years. But rather than being worn down by it all, she came through the other side sharper, stronger, and more grounded than ever. That’s not luck. That’s character.

The kind of person who lifts others up

What makes Tammy’s story really special isn’t just the personal wins, it’s what she does with them. New reps at the Randburg branch have flourished under her guidance, not because she was told to mentor them, but because it’s just who she is. She makes space for people to grow. She passes on what she’s learned. And quietly, without making a fuss about it, she makes the whole team better.

Her advice? Simple, and worth writing down

Tammy’s background in hospitality gave her a head start. She already knew the products, the environment, and the people. And her advice for anyone entering this space? Take the time to truly understand what you’re selling. Know it well enough to advise, not just describe. That knowledge is the foundation everything else is built on. But her best tip is also her simplest one: remember your customers’ birthdays. It sounds almost too easy, but in a world where everyone is busy and everything moves fast, that one small gesture creates a connection that no cold call or promotional mailer ever could. It’s the kind of thing that turns a client into a loyal one, and a transaction into a relationship.

Twelve years in and Tammy van Bergen is still showing up, still growing, and still making the people around her better. That’s not just a success story. That’s the real deal. Randburg is lucky to have her, and so is the whole Core team.