Tiscali enlists customer support in community assistance

As part of its social responsibility initiative and with the support of its customers, Tiscali has donated R59 000 to Heartbeat, a community development organisation that assists in alleviating the suffering of children affected by HIV/AIDS.

In addition to the sponsorship, Tiscali supplied Heartbeat with ADSL access and e-mail at its head office, 10 dialup accounts and 10 PCs as well as hosting and maintaining of the organisation`s Web site.

Says Natalie Thayer, Head of Consumer Services at Tiscali: "We were able to leverage off our excellent relationships with our customers, and their willingness to support the initiative, by donating R10 towards Heartbeat for every completed questionnaire received in a recent customer survey.

"The response from our customers was overwhelming; with 5 900 completed questionnaires we were able to offer solid support to Heartbeat through a substantial monetary donation. Being a customer-focused organisation we made it very easy for our client base to support the community."

The latest UNAIDS report estimates that SA is home to 2 million orphans. These are children under the age of 18, who have lost one or both parents largely due to HIV/AIDS. Heartbeat addresses the needs of these children through country-wide projects that offer community care, food, education and psycho-social support.

Heartbeat operates across five provinces with its head-office based in Pretoria. The PCs supplied by Tiscali are being used at satellite offices around the country for general reporting and administration functions.

"We employ people from the various communities at these project sites, and have seen the biggest benefit from the Internet dialup accounts. We can now correspond more effectively with staff in the field, which assists immensely with administration," says Marcha Neethling, external communications manager at Hearbeat.

Trek to the summit

00Days

:

00Hrs

:

00Min

:

00Sec

The PCs are also being used by volunteers in certain areas to teach children basic computer skills.

Heartbeat`s database, the biggest of its kind in SA according to the Gauteng department of social development, tracks each child enrolled in the various intervention programmes.

Says Neethling: "The database enables us to monitor the progress of each child as well as the services rendered to them. Once dialup access has been installed at all our sites, we will also be able to communicate electronically with the central database.

"Right now, however, we are still generating a paper trail from administrative activities and entering data manually. However, doing this electronically will make a vast impact on efficiencies and the way we interact with the database."

Through the sponsorship initiative, Tiscali also raised awareness of Heartbeat`s "Sponsor a child in need" programme, whereby a fixed monthly donation of R150 will fulfil the needs of a specific child. An additional R50 per month will go towards a Tertiary Education Fund that will accumulate until the child completes their secondary education. Contributions are fixed for a one-year period and the public is encouraged to continue showing support for the programme.

For further information, or to get involved, either visit www.heartbeat.org.za or contact the organisation directly on (012) 803-3970.