In 2019, the Box Smart Foundation threw its first fundraising event. At that stage, the Box Smart Foundation existed only in the form of its two co-founders. It was only after the event’s success that the Box Smart Foundation was born when it became clear that there was an opportunity to make a sustained impact in the education space.

The event was called “The Fight for Muzomuhle” as we had set out to raise R50,000.00 for Muzomuhle Primary School, located in Diepsloot. At the time of the event, they were just shy of 2000 learners at the school.

Entertainment

With around 10 fights on the day, we were grateful to the various fighters that volunteered themselves to put on a good show for the crowd. We’re especially grateful to Pound for Pound Boxing Gym, who provided the bulk of the fights. We’re excited to build on our relationship with Pound for Pound in the 2020 event.

The event also saw some prolific DJ’s exhibit fine musical taste to elevate the atmosphere of the event. Chief among these were OG Chocolate and Abby Nurock.

Funds Raised

We had set what we thought of as an ambitious goal of R50,000.00 to be raised. What followed was beyond our expectations. Patrons were buying tickets for standard prices but then contributing extra in donations; parents heard about our initiative and gave generous donations and items to be auctioned at the event. We surpassed our wildest fundraising goal and managed to raise R100,000.00 for education initiatives. We were over the moon- the amount raised was entirely community based, although we do hope to see more corporate involvement in our 2020 event as a result of some new relationships we’ve built over the past year.

Having met our promise to Muzomuhle Primary School by donating over R50,000.00 worth of sporting equipment and classroom facilities, we decided to donate a large portion of the remaining funds to the Alex Education Committee- a secondary school bursary program for children in and around Alexandra Township. The remaining donations were small in nature and were given to other education initiatives.

Attendance

The event was widely attended, with a total of 452 tickets sold.