After a long day at work, most of us are happy to take it easy. Not so for Liezel Kayster, who works as an interactive controller at the Knysna Woolworths store. When Liezel began working for Woolworths in 2007 she moved into the Knysna Secondary School Hostel in Hornlee. There she discovered the hardships high school learners had to battle on a daily basis. Liezel set about making their living environment more conducive to studying and now helps them with their homework two hours every night, and helps out with food and rent money whenever possible. She works tirelessly on the improvement of their surroundings and spends every spare cent she has repairing and improving the hostel. “This work has changed my life,” says Liezel. Now Liezel is to receive a donation of R5 000 – to go to the hostel and its learners – from the Woolworths Trust. Liezel was the monthly winner of the Woolworths ‘Working Wonders’ initiative, which recognises the efforts Woolworths employees are making towards meeting social challenges in their communities. “Caring for people has always been at the heart of the Woolworths way of doing business,” says Brian Frost, Chairman of the Woolworths Trust, which oversees and administers Woolworths extensive CSI initiatives. “We are proud to say that it goes beyond what Woolworths does on a corporate level through our CSI programme, to the way our stores are involved in their local communities, right down to real grass roots level. The ‘Working Wonders’ programme allows us to recognise our ‘unsung heroes’ – individual Woolworths people who are making a real difference in their own way and in their own time in their own communities.” Woolworths staff members are invited to submit their stories, written in their own words. A representative group of Woolworths employees selects a winner every month, and the story is published on Woolworths intranet and in Woolworths internal newsletter, Shop Talk. “In addition to recognising individual effort, we also hope that reading these stories will inspire other staff members to get involved in community activities in some way,” Frost explains. At the end of the year the monthly winners are reassessed and an overall yearly winner with two runner ups are chosen and their charities are rewarded again with an additional R50 000, R20 000 and R10 000 respectively. ENDS Issued on behalf of: Woolworths Trust Issued by: liquidlingo Communications Contact: Fabrizia “Fabz” degli Esposti Email: fabz@liquidlingo.co.za Telephone Number: +27 21 424 1530