On 11 September 2026, members of the Cox Yeats Johannesburg team had the privilege of visiting the Frida Hartley Shelter for Women and Children to hand over donations collected as part of our Women’s Month Donation Drive.
What began as a call to our colleagues to donate essential items became something much more meaningful. The handover allowed our team to see first-hand the work being done by the shelter and to better understand the realities facing many women, children and families in the surrounding community.
More than a shelter
During the visit, a coordinator took our team through the history of the Frida Hartley Shelter, why it was established and how its role has evolved in response to the socio-economic challenges affecting the communities it serves.
At the heart of the shelter’s work remains a commitment to helping women rebuild their lives. Women who arrive at the shelter are supported not simply with a safe place to stay, but with opportunities to develop skills, pursue their educational goals and work towards becoming financially and socially independent.
The visit was a reminder that meaningful support extends beyond meeting an immediate need. It is also about giving people the tools, confidence and opportunities they need to create a different future for themselves and their children.
The shelter’s impact also reaches well beyond the women and children who live there. Through its soup kitchen, it feeds approximately 700 members of the surrounding community, ranging from senior citizens to very young children. Against the backdrop of growing socio-economic pressures, this has become an important part of the support the shelter provides.
Our people showed up
Throughout August, our Johannesburg office collected items from the shelter’s wish list, which included everyday essentials such as toiletries, personal care products, cleaning supplies and baby-care items. Colleagues went beyond the requested list, also donating clothing and other useful items for the women and children.
The response from our staff was generous, and seeing those contributions together at the handover brought home what can happen when many individual acts of kindness are combined.
For the Cox Yeats team who visited the shelter, the experience was particularly moving. They were able to walk through the facility, engage with the people behind its work and hear stories about the women and families whose lives have been touched by the organisation.
Those conversations gave greater meaning to every bag, box and item donated. Behind each contribution is the possibility of making someone’s day a little easier, helping a mother care for her child, giving a woman something she needs as she works towards independence, or supporting a community member who may otherwise go without a meal.
Continuing a relationship of support
This is the second consecutive year that our Johannesburg team has supported the Frida Hartley Shelter through our Women’s Month Donation Drive. What makes this initiative meaningful is not simply the collection of goods, but the opportunity it gives us to engage with an organisation working every day to restore dignity, create opportunity and provide practical support where it is needed.
Our sincere thanks go to every Cox Yeats colleague who contributed, encouraged others to participate or helped make the handover possible. Your generosity turned a Women’s Month initiative into something tangible.
We also thank the team at the Frida Hartley Shelter for Women and Children for welcoming us, sharing their story and, most importantly, for the work they continue to do for women, children and the wider community.
Sometimes making a difference starts with something as simple as giving what you can. Together, those contributions can become something much bigger: dignity, opportunity and hope.
Learn more about the organisation and offer your helping hand: https://www.fridahartley.org/