BATHURST’S Pig and Whistle pub has been giving back to the community with their Pigs for People Initiative, the latest recipient being Minet “Rastar” Nojoko for his local self-sustaining food garden initiative.
Nojoko is well-known to readers for TotT for the exposure given to his project over the past year. He was also selected for the Daily Dispatch’s Local Heroes awards, where he won R5 000 and R3 000 in vouchers towards his project.
Through Pigs for People, he received five wheelbarrows, ten spades and ten hosepipes. Along with seeds and seedling trays which were donated to the initiative by Jann Bader.
The Pigs for People Initiative was started two and a half years ago by Lisa Came, daughter of the Pig and Whistle owners Gavin and Lucille Came.
Lisa started the initiative to help improve Bathurst Primary School as well as to help underprivileged entrepreneurs. The initiative is now run by Natalie Brighton who works at the Pig and Whistle.
How it works is that for a donation of R250 a person will get their name engraved on a wooden pig (no real pigs are given away as one might think). This pig plaque is then placed on a wall in the bar to commemorate that person’s donation.
The proceeds received from each donation of R250 then go towards helping community projects, like supplying local crafters with wool and other equipment to make items to sell.
In the last two years, the Pigs for People Initiative has been able to donate a jungle gym and Wendy house to the Bathurst Primary School. Last year they held a fantastic Christmas party for the school.
The Pigs for People Initiative decided to expand their helping hand by including a local dance group as a beneficiary as well as helping out Nojoko with his passionate drive to help residents of Nemato create self-sustainable gardens to provide food for their families.
There are currently 50 households in Nojoko’s project and he is always looking for more sponsors to expand the project.
Pigs for People are continuously looking for ways to support the community and hope to have many more people joining their initiative.
