Greetings!

This month, GreaterGood South Africa is highlighting our precious WATER resources in support of National Water Week 2005, from 21 to 27 March. Remember that there is something that every South African can do to conserve our water resources – We can all be Waterwise at home, in the garden, at work, at play, every day...

The theme of this year's celebrations is "Water for Life". National Water Week emphasises the importance of the sustainable management of this scarce resource, and the awareness of the role that water plays in eradicating poverty and achieving social and economic development in our country. For more information about the activities of National Water Week, go to www.dwaf.gov.za.

If you would like to give a gift to commemorate National Water Week, visit the following causes working for water conservation on www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za:

• Award
• Teba Development
• Working for Wetlands

We would also love it, if you nominated your own favourite water cause on www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za during this month.

To learn more about water and its conservation, see the Water Tips and Strategies posted in the Water Pages on www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za. This includes recycling, water for washing, toilet water, water in the kitchen, water for appliances and pumps. There is a fascinating section on waterwise gardening which includes the planting of beautiful indigenous plants that require much less water than alien vegetation.

Waterwise gardening is a developing approach to gardening that takes into account the impact that various factors such as ground type, plant type and watering methods have on how much water is eventually used in the garden. Waterwise is such an excellent life choice and we are delighted to bring you a fantastic waterwise offer in The Good Shop this month that not only saves water but also does good! You can now purchase selections of indigenous waterwise seeds, bulbs and starter packs from the Fine Bush people, and 15% of the purchase price will be donated to a cause of your choice. See What's New in the Good Shop below for more details.

Even waterwise plants need some water though, so while we're talking about water conservation at home, we would like to draw your attention to a range of water conservation products offered by Water Rhapsody.

Water Rhapsody has six products that save water and money. These were developed here in South Africa by Jeremy Taylor - the 1997 Winner of the Green Trust Award for the most effective water conservation project. Water Rhapsody products enable you to water your garden using waste water. What's more, if you order your Water Rhapsody system through www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za, you can select a cause to benefit from a donation made on your behalf, at no extra cost to you. Just email us and we will connect you.

Another important event in the month of March is Employee Volunteer Week, from the 5th to the 11th of March - this is the first national celebration of Employee Volunteering in South Africa. Volunteering your time and talents to work for the greater good of South Africa is a wonderful way to make a difference. Many thousands of employees are encouraged and supported by their companies to get involved by volunteering to help NPOs and communities in South Africa. To find out more about the exciting activities and how you can get involved in Employee Volunteer Week, visit www.volunteerweek.org.za. It's going to be a week of action with companies getting teams of people together to take on tasks which will benefit a variety of good causes - projects for children or for the elderly, tackling health issues or cleaning up the environment.

As many of you are aware, www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za has been providing a portal for fund-raising for the South African Red Cross Society (SARCS) Tsunami Disaster Appeal. In February, we paid over a cheque for R120 099.45 - donations made by GreaterGood South Africa supporters. Thank you to everyone who made a contribution and special thanks to Noah Financial Innovation and Deutsche Bank who kickstarted our campaign and matched the support pledged by their staff. We are delighted to have added your contributions to the giving wall at SARCS.

So far, the SARCS has handed over more than R20 million to the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies (IFRCS) in Geneva although we understand from them that the South African public has actually contributed more than R30 million to various Tsunami disaster relief efforts. This money has been equally allocated to South East Asia and East Africa so that all countries affected by the disaster are assisted. The SARCS is one of 33 national societies around the world providing funding for hygiene parcels, baby kits, bedsheets, tarpaulins, blankets, water purification tablets, jerry cans, kitchen sets and tents. So far, the IFRCS estimates that it has been able to assist a half a million people affected by the disaster.

www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za Welcomes the following New Causes:

• Peninsula School Feeding Association
• City Care Nelspruit
• KidzCan Arts & Cultural Academy
• Agenda
• ACAT
• Menngos
• Sancob
• The Heart Foundation

In support of National Water Week, we are promoting waterwise gardening and offering you fine selections of seeds of indigenous South African fynbos plants. This is a good life choice purchase as you also get to donate 15% of the value of the sale to your favourite cause. The Good Shop also offers many stunning products made by NPOs in such a way that they make a contribution to water conservation in South Africa whether it is through the use of alien water-guzzling vegetation or their recycling of products of our natural environment.

The Fine Bush People offer you easy to grow seeds packaged in ideal starter packs – The Protea Starter Pack; The Fynbos Feast Egg-box; The WaterWise Egg-box; The Erica Starter Pack; The Bulb Starter Pack; The Cape Restio Starter Pack and The Healing Herbs starter Pack are all available from the Good Shop now.

Remember that www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za 's courier service works all-year round, delivering purchases to your door, or directly to the person you want to treat. This includes an international delivery service, so you can send unique South African gifts to relatives or friends overseas. There is also a gift-wrapping and personalised card service.

Once again, we'd like to highlight the good life choice you can make by buying your pre-paid airtime through www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za. A spin-off of this purchase is that DAT will donate 5% of the sale to your favourite cause.

It's not only a socially conscious and responsible way to buy your airtime, it’s also an excellent method of transaction with a once off registration process and one easy payment via debit order, electronic transfer, stop order or internet banking to buy airtime anytime you need it. Parents can purchase the monthly allowance for their children's cellphones; businesses can more easily control their cellphone budgets and buying of airtime for staff by paying for monthly prepaid airtime for each user. Just one monthly payment can deliver airtime to any number of cellphones as requested.

With DAT and www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za you can live a good life and keep on giving to the worthy cause of your choice with every purchase of the prepaid airtime you use. Simply complete the registration process, choose your preferred cause and buy your airtime on www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za. We will do the rest. Remember, every time you purchase your airtime with GreaterGood South Africa your preferred cause gets their gift at no extra cost to you.

Click here to purchase prepaid airtime now.

Also, if you haven't yet checked out Gadget Guru on www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za - you're in for a treat. Gadget Guru is a specialist purveyor of a stunning range of cool toys and tech toys, retro and lifestyle gifts, games, collectibles, of course gadgets of every kind and a wide variety of Big-Boys' toys. We are delighted that they have made their excellent products available through the Good Shop and will donate 5% of the value of your Gadget Guru purchases made through www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za to a charity of your choice.

Telling your friends, family and colleagues about www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za and how it makes it so easy to support good causes, is one of the most powerful ways that you can contribute to a better South Africa for all.

Please make a point of mentioning us as often as you can to the people in your life. Let them know just how they can make good life choices that can benefit the greater good at no extra cost to them.

You can also join our email campaign, Refer A Friend, and to thank you, www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za will give you 5% off your next purchase at The Good Shop.

All you need to do is the register the names and email addresses of the friends you would like to tell about GreaterGood South Africa, edit the e-mail message below to your liking and click "Send". When you "Send", you will receive a 5% discount on your next Good Shop purchases as our thanks. We respect the privacy of the information you give us. We will never sell it to a third party.

Click here to Refer a Friend