Thando Sibiya was all smiles this week as he showed off his new shirt. The 11-year-old, whose parents died a few years ago is one of many children from Vosloo-Rus in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, who received clothes and shoes from Woolworths this week.

Smiling from ear to ear, the Grade 6 pupil from Bopang Kgotso Primary School said:'I'm very happy about the shirt I got. I'm also going to be getting a pair of shoes and pants. '

He is one of about 140 children who took part in the Vosloorus branch of the Heartbeat Centre for Community Development. Heartbeat is a national non-profit organisation which helps communities to care for orphans and other vulnerable children. It works in 12 communities in five provinces. All 5000 children in its programmes benefited from the Woolworths donation.

Thando said that since his parents died a few years ago, life had been hard for him and his 53-year-old unemployed grandmother. However, since he has become part of Heartbeat, life has improved.

Mos Mbhele, Heartbeat's manager in Vosloorus and the areas community development facilitator, said the organisation, through the help of donors, had helped children.

Every month, among other interventions, the children get food packages from the organisation and we also have a group that helps them with homework as they don't have anyone at home who can help. They live with their grandparents or with siblings, he said.

Refilwe Mokgatla, 19, is a matriculant who is also an orphan. She received new hippy pants and matching top.

I am very happy for getting these clothes. They are beautiful, she said.

Each year, Woolworths gives away R12-million worth of clothes to poor South Africans. This donation highlights the call to businesses to find ways to meet their social investment objectives.

Bigfoot Express transported the clothes from Cape Town to Heartbeats headquarters in Pretoria and to Noah Orphan Care in Durban.

The partnership was facilitated by www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za and the Broking for Good Foundation. Both organisations provide offline and online solutions for businesses and individuals to support development organisations.