Not just power tools – Empower Tools!

“There’s no denying that power tools are expensive and yet necessary for numerous artisanal trades,” says Nita Luis, founder of family owned BRIGHTS Hardware, a Western Cape based chain of hardware stores that is driving the Tool-donation campaign.  “Talented artisans abound in South Africa, but challenging economic times can make these items unaffordable for graduates.”

“We’ve noted that many people receive new power tools as gifts or purchase a new power tool when they are able to, yet their previous tools are still in working condition. These power tools could empower young artisans, and BRIGHTS is urging South Africans to donate their used power tools to this worthy cause – rather than leave them to gather dust in the garage,” adds Luis.

Learn to Earn, a charity organisation that aims to develop unemployed and disadvantaged people, has skills-development and training centres based in Khayelitsha and Hermanus, and since 1989 has trained 14166 unemployed people with market-related skills, equipping students to become employees or self-employed entrepreneurs.

Orlando Luis, CEO of BRIGHTS Hardware, with students from the Khayelitsha Campus of Learn to Earn.
Photographer: Dwayne Senior for Marvello & Mill

According to Learn to Earn, the purpose of their Basic Handyman Skills course is to equip course graduates with the entry-level knowledge and skills required in order to find employment as assistants in any of the following trades: electrical, plumbing, painting or general handyman. It is a 17-week full-time course conducted in Hermanus. The woodworking course is a 19-week long full-time course that takes place in Khayelitsha that prepares students to either go on a learnership, or to be skilled enough to seek entry level employment in the woodwork and cabinetry industry. “The Learn to Earn ethos is “a hand up, not a hand out,” says Aleks Jablonska of Learn to Earn.

Luis explains that the BRIGHTS Empower Tools campaign launches in BRIGHTS stores in September and will run until the end of January 2020, allowing time for a decent number of donated tools to be accumulated before they are handed over to Learn to Earn.

“We urge the public to join us on this donation campaign so that we have enough power tools by the end of the campaign to gift all of the Learn to Earn woodworking and handyman graduates with a power tool, so that they can start their new journey with skills and accompanying tools.”

As a thank you, BRIGHTS is offering everyone who donates a working power tool a R50 voucher for their next purchase at BRIGHTS Hardware. Look for the branded donation-box in your local BRIGHTS store and ask the staff to assist you with your donation and voucher.

BRIGHTS Hardware is a Western Cape based hardware chain that was founded in 1971 as a General dealer specialising in electrical contracting and repairs. BRIGHTS remains a family business and over the past 48 years has grown considerably, now consisting of eight stores in Boston, Blackheath, Langebaan, Mitchells Plain, Montague Park, Plattekloof, Uitzicht and a new Brackengate store.

For more information on BRIGHTS visit www.brights.co.za.  For more information on Learn to Earn visit www.learntoearn.org.za.