We love our celebrities. We love to watch them on TV, listen to them on the radio, and check out their stories in the magazines, newspapers, and blogs. Some even love to check out the latest celebrities. We know our celebrities for their music, their acting, their fashion and their scandals etc. Maybe its time we knew them for their heart and what they do for the community.
I think we have reached a place in Kenya where our celebrities need to be known for positive things. One of my favourite celebrities the dreamy George Clooney is known for charity works including forming an organization called not on our watch with Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt. George Clooney has been vocal in the past on human rights atrocities and dealing with issues of poverty. And everybody knows about Brad Pitt and Angelina and their charity work. In the US celebrities are known as much for their passion for charity as for their acting or singing. We need to reach a place in Kenya where our celebrities (and politicians) are known for the things they do for society instead of just for their scandals.
This Easter some Kenyan celebrities have teamed up with OLX Kenya to make a difference through a campaign called Easter “sell to bless.” The campaign encourages people to sell their unused goods on OLX Kenya and to buy dry foodstuffs at Tuskys for children’s homes with the money.
I remember early in the year seeing an advert for it on TV. But the story kind of fizzled out. But the celebrities who include Kambua, Size 8, DJ Soxxy, Willy Paul, Citizen TV’s Willis Raburu, Abel Mutua of Hapa Kule, Njugush of real househelps of kawangware, Dk Kwenye beat, Bahati, Djs Mo, Johnnie Celeb, Sanch, Krowbar, Touch, Gee Gee, Njugush, Kambua and many others have been busy offline raising funds for this initiate.
DJ Soxxy who heads the campaign says that it is rewarding to bless children with what they need instead of what they don’t need. He says while it is important to donate many people donate unnecessary stuff that they don’t need to clear the clutter in their homes but these things don’t help the children. That is why the idea is to buy dry food stuffs which the children really need.
Many people usually donate things to the church or charity initiatives but some things are never used like clothes which are too big, shoes are too high or small. This is something the sell to bless campaign will change. You will be able to donate your unused stuff and give the children what they really need which is food. So OLX is working with you to ensure that you bless a child with what they really need.
This is how the campaign works. After you sell your unused goods on OLX, you can go to any Tuskys supermarket and shop for dry food stuffs and drop them off at the drop off points. You can also use the money to buy vouchers which you can drop off. The public will get a chance to nominate and vote for their preferred children’s homes through live TV-shows on Sunday mornings and on social media.
The artists will then visit the children’s homes the public have selected. They will hold concerts to entertain the children and spend time with them.
This Easter you can bless a child by joining the sell to bless campaign. To get more information on how you can pledge go to http://selltobless.org . You can also pledge on the placards at the Tusky’s outlets.
Kambua says she sold her shoes to pledge to the sell to bless campaign “I have to admit that the money is tempting once you have sold, but then you remember it is for a worthy cause and buy that extra packet of Unga to feed a hungry child”.
The campaign runs for 3 weeks starting from 16th March to 6th April 2015.
