Con Brio Cares: A Season of Compassion

January – April 2025 Newsletter

“Where compassion meets action.”

As we step into the heart of 2025, we pause to reflect on a season of deep care, teamwork, and impact. At Con Brio Cares, every meal shared, every pack delivered, and every smile given is part of a greater mission: restoring dignity and hope, one life at a time.

Thanks to our community of donors, volunteers, and partners, here’s what we’ve accomplished between January and April 2025.

👶 Baby Care: Giving New Beginnings

We packed and delivered over 150 baby care packs/Items Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital. Packs containing a variety of:

Wet wipes, Menstrual Pads for Moms
Nappies, baby clothes, booties, and beanies
Bottles, dummies, and a soft item (blanket or toy)
Blanket or Towels

These small bundles of support help mothers who often leave maternity wards with nothing but their child in hand.

Thank you to our baby drive sponsors:

67 Blankets – for lovingly made baby blankets, knitted toys, baby beanies, booties, and jerseys.
Denise and the retirement home knitters – for lovingly made baby beanies, booties, blankets, Teddies
Good things Guys – for featuring us in an article: https://www.goodthingsguy.com/lifestyle/con-brio-cares-delivers-heartfelt-donation-and-essentials-to-hospitals/?fbclid=IwY2xjawKAMTVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETF4YW1tYkloWWJVeHFpdHJpAR6s28-btziCGGQLtO7FT7u1wmCf9U7GIPVeJo3uk9p32PAnF_uj5umW1see6Q_aem_2xsEpP1n_KPKNyoEG99Lig
Caxton News – For always helping us share our needs in the press https://tinyurl.com/bde89amt
All our other indivdiuals donors who helped us with baby items such as bottles, bottle warmers, bags, clothing, toys, dummies and more.

🍲 Food Relief: Nourishing Hope

Together with our partners, we’ve supported families, schools, and homeless individuals with meals and groceries:

Community Feeding Highlights:

Served over 320 individuals with hot meals in collaboration with Doorway to Dignity and Ferndale Bible Chapel at their weekly soup kitchen where we try and help once a month.
Gifted knitted beanies to 85 individuals served, just in time for the winter chill as well as some scarfs and jersey for the kids.
Delivered 113 Jars of Hope (providing ~678 meals) to a local school serving 150 children and teachers

We continue to respond to calls from schools without consistent electricity or resources to feed their learners.

Urgent Appeal:

A community school we support still needs a gas cooker and gas bottle to continue meal preparation.

Also ingrediants for cooking for both the Doorway to Diginity Soup Kitchen and Success Katelgo Academy.

We are also reaching out for adult blankets for the soup kitchen.

👧🏾 Dignity for Girls/Woman: Menstrual Care

We launched a sanitary dignity campaign to support young woman. Our aim is to fill 100 reusable tins (each fits 2 pads) to help girls stay in school confidently and hygienically and add to our mom and baby bags.

This is an ongoing effort, and we’re still collecting pads, wipes, and underwear to support adolescent girls in under-resourced schools and the moms in the hospitals and clinics.

🏥 BHCC – Hospital and Clinic Outreach: Empowering Recovery through Occupational Therapy

Another meaningful partnerships this year has been with the BHCC – Hospital and Clinic Outreach. They support government clinics with vital items needs. We try and help them with supplies for the hospitals Occupational Theraphy departments.

These therapists rely on basic tools to carry out Activities of Daily Living (ADL) therapy, yet their resources are extremely limited.

🎾 What We’ve Donated So Far:

Balls
Dummy Clips
Teething rings and soft baby items for pediatric therapy
Stress balls and small sensory toys
Tennis balls for hand strength and coordination exercises

These donations directly support patient rehabilitation, giving therapists the tools they need to help patients retrain their muscles, rebuild routines, and regain dignity.

📌 What BHCC OT Department Still Needs:

Adult nail clippers and emery boards
Tennis balls

These items are vital to their neuro and pediatric therapy programs, especially for low-income patients who cannot afford personal supplies.

🏫 Schools, Supplies & Smiles

From supporting teachers with classroom supplies to keeping learners fed and equipped, we work with Success Katlego Academy to:

Deliver food items and 113 Jars of Hope we need ongoing ingrediants for this.
Supply stationery and files for the teachers.
Gifted a large teddy bear for the school reading corner

We are proud to see our work create both educational and emotional support for the next generation. We would like to contribute to their pantry monthly. Other needs are books, stationary, the gas bottle and gas cooker mentioned earlier as well as toiletries.

🧓🏽 Eventide Home for the Aged

Our care for the elderly this season focused on practical support and joyful planning:

Donated floor tiles to improve unsafe flooring in common areas
Supplied groceries and pantry items like cooking oil
Will be supplying Entertainment at their thank you day on 5 May and delivering a coffee machine and pantry items.
Preparing a Spring Braai Celebration in September for over 50 residents and staff

🩺 We are currently collecting:

Supplies for their clinic – Basic Clinic supplies are needed
Ongoing pantry items needed such as rice, pasta, cooking oil, tea, coffee, milk, oats, maize etc.

🙌 Our Amazing Sponsors & Supporters

None of this is possible without you. We thank every hand and heart that joined us so far in 2025.

With gratitude to:

67 Blankets – for ongoing support with blankets, toys and other baby knitted goodies.
Denise and the retirement homes’ knitters – adult beanies, baby items, teddies, and more
Doorway to Dignity – Feeding partnerships, and Jars of Hope
Ferndale Bible Chapel – Meals and space for serving the community and their ongoing partnership
Papy’s Bakery – For supplying bread to the Doorway to Dignity project weekly and other projects
Our anonymous and individual donors – Your quiet kindness has spoken volumes
Our amazing volunteers – without your help nothing will get done

🔔 How You Can Help Next

We are currently in need of:

Rice, lentils, soup mix for upcoming meal drives
160+ packs of sanitary pads – you can get a pack for R6 at Spar
Pantry Items for Eventide home for the aged
Baby items: baby wash, creams, wet wipes, soaps
Winter blankets and warm clothing
Gas cooker & gas bottle for the school kitchen
Medical supplies for Eventide Home
Ongoing blankets, beanies, scarfs, jerseys, booties and toys for our baby pack drives
Volunteers – for distributions, packing, events, and screenings

📞 Stay Connected

📧 Email: hello@conbrio.org.za

061 5359988
📍 Based in: Randburg, Johannesburg
📱 Instagram & Facebook: @conbriocares
📦 Drop-offs: Accepted by arrangement 061 5359988
🚗 Collections: Available for large donations
📲 Join our WhatsApp Volunteer Group – message us to be added

Remember you can send us vouchers as well as do 60/60, Spar, Woolies or Pick n Pay deliveries from anywhere. Monetary donations also accepted.

We are incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished, but we know the journey ahead is just as important. Thank you for being part of this mission—of bringing dignity, joy, and care to those who need it most.