The Lithon Foundation: facilitating meaningful connections

With the dynamic Marsia Reed at the helm in Namibia, the Lithon Foundation is living its purpose of bringing love and hope to Africa. We’re incredibly proud of everything our Foundation has achieved in the past 12 months, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. By staying agile and adaptable to change, we’ve helped dozens of NGOs to meet community needs and secured corporate funding and support for impact organisations in Namibia. Here’s a look at some stand-out moments of the past year.

Caring for health workers in Covid-19

During the pandemic, a youth focused welfare organisation approached us with a heart to feed and support health workers. The Foundation swung into action and connected the organisation with Nedbank, who was keen to fund the initiative. Our role was ensuring the funding was allocated correctly and used efficiently. And the welfare organisation took care of everything else, from asking local restaurants to provide food to enlisting youths from local communities to deliver food parcels. “It was wonderful to see everyone getting involved in this much-needed initiative, from Nedbank through to the young people in previously disadvantaged/marginalised communities,” says Marsia. 

A season of giving 

Over the last year, we’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of our corporate partners. PWC Namibia, opted to forgo their end-of-year functions and, instead, generously donated money and manpower to support local NGOs (SIO’s) during the festive season. 

Trauma counselling workshops

In 2021, we partnered with a South African Storytelling counsellor, sponsored by the Carl Schlettwein Stiftung based in Switzerland, running workshops for NGOs (SIO’s) in Namibia. These sessions guided participants on how to help children deal with trauma through storytelling. They were such a success that we’ve already organised the entire 2022 Namibia tour and the number of impact organisations taking part has doubled. We’ve also extended the reach of these workshops to include Otjiwarongo, up to Grootfontein (450 km north of Windhoek) and the renewed sponsorship means that about 30 organisations can participate free of charge.

A partnership with Channel 7

In an exciting development, we recently partnered with Namibia’s Channel 7 radio station. “As part of our agreement, I’ll be working closely with Channel 7 on some of their initiatives, and they’ve given me a regular radio spot, called Joymakers, to talk about the Foundation and the impact organisations we work with,” says Marsia. “It’s been a fantastic opportunity to get the word out, and we’ve already had a very positive response, with various individuals and corporates contacting us to ask how they can get involved.”

Assisting the City of Windhoek

The Foundation is currently facilitating a partnership between the City of Windhoek and the Project Management Institute (PMI). The City approached us to assist with a community-focused project and we quickly brought onboard Women at Work, who provide skills training for unemployed Namibian women, and secured support from several corporate entities. When PMI expressed their interest in managing the initiative, the final piece fell into place. “This project really illustrates the role the Foundation plays in connecting corporate and government entities with impact organisations to uplift communities in need,” says Marsia.

Big-hearted Lithonians

For Marsia, it’s been heartwarming to see an increasing number of Lithonians getting involved in the Foundation’s events and initiatives. “When we ask for help within Lithon, we’re often overwhelmed by the response. I think the teams have seen the difference their contributions make, and it’s inspired them to get even more involved”.

What’s next for the Lithon Foundation?

Staying true to its purpose of making a significant and positive impact in people’s lives, Lithon has decided that the Foundation’s impact will now be rolled out in every country it operates in. Local staff members are excited to get involved in uplifting the communities around them.

Ready to support those making a difference?

We work with hundreds of established NGOs (SIO’s) and assist fledgling charities accelerate their start-up process to meet community needs. If you’re a corporate entity or business wanting to support charitable organisations, or you’d like your CSI activities to have the most impact, get in touch with the Foundation today. We’d love to help you make a difference.