14th Mar 2006 - Zero 88 launch new charity initiative

Zero 88 are not to giving away ‘Swag’ this year, choosing to launch an aid initiative for Africa instead. Why?

South Africa has the highest HIV infection rate in the world and there are approx. 120,000 AIDS orphans in the KwaZulu Natal region alone. There are currently 29.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa and in South Africa alone 2000 HIV+ babies are born every day.

Zero 88 launched the aid campaign at their European Dealer meeting at the SIB show in Rimini. Representatives from over 20 countries attended the meeting, where the new African initiative received universal support and a number of dealers made immediate pledges.

Talking about the new initiative Zero 88 brand manager Graham Eales explains “Offering help is not a new concept for Zero 88. We have been running our Financial Award Scheme, which awards grants to help educational establishments, amateur dramatic societies and registered charities buy new lighting equipment, for a number of years. Last Christmas we also made donations to industry charities rather than sending branded merchandise out to customers.”

The idea to also help people outside the industry is something that Zero 88 had been thinking about for some time. The decision to create ‘Zero 88 African Aid’ came about when they needed to re-order SWAG (promotional give-aways) and found out that for the equivalent cost of a polo-shirt they could pay for a child’s school dinners for a month. To them, that seemed more worthwhile than adding yet another t-shirt to a lighting technician’s wardrobe!

Rather than not give anything, Zero 88 have designed a small card and beaded badge to give away. The badges are made by local African people and the card makes recipients aware of the charity and what their donation has bought.

As for the charity they support, well that was chosen by Graham. He explains “We have been selling product into South Africa for a number of years and during a recent sales trip I visited a home for children orphaned by AIDS. This showed vividly the plight of many African people and how AIDS has affected communities there. ‘Lean on Me’ supports many programmes throughout the region including an AIDS orphanage in Kwa Zulu Natal, where the Zero 88’s funds will be donated.”

Zero 88 will run additional events throughout the year to support the charity’s ongoing programmes, specifically the collection of toys for Christmas.

For further information about “Lean on Me” please visit their website www.wecare4africa.com