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.
