“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love” – Mother Teresa
Founder of R&D Offroad AND Gobi-X Expedition Gear
Founder of R&D Offroad AND Gobi-X Expedition Gear
Over the years Gobi-X Expedition Gear and R & D Offroad have been asked to help many charities and good causes. We have always done our best and tried to help where we could. What I was finding though, was we were only really helping when we were asked to………and this never sat well with me. As a community we should always be trying to look out for each other and do what we can to help. This was a problem……and I have a passion for fixing problems!
Two years ago, I approached my business partners and suggested we start our own Charity Foundation! This would mean we could start building consistency with our means to help others! Ingamu Foundation was created! (We used the first two letters of each of our surnames and came up with Ingamu – Cris and Elizabeth Ingram; Shane and Lee-Ann Garcia and Johan and soon-to-be Izaan Muller.) My ambition for Ingamu is to help souls that cannot help themselves and for this reason, we focus our deeds on helping children and animals. We now had a name and a goal…….next up was finding someone who was brave and strong enough to spearhead this venture on the ground……….the first person who came to mind was Shane’s lovely wife Lee-Ann! Lee-Ann has her own charity and has been doing charity work for over ten years, who better to ask whether she would support our cause. Without hesitation Lee-Ann jumped at the opportunity to handle the day-to-day tasks of making a difference! This young lady is incredibly brave and is doing fantastic work meeting with all sorts of groups who need our support and getting the job done.
To fund the start-up of the Ingamu Foundation, R & D Offroad and Gobi-X Expedition Gear have been donating a fixed monthly amount into the foundation enabling Lee-Ann to do the great work she does. As our businesses grow, we grow our financial support. We are only able to do this through the loyal support of our customers and our staff – to all of you, we salute and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making this great cause possible. Now with our new website up and running we hope to encourage help from the greater public by growing awareness and collecting funds.
Over the past two years we have been able to help in many different ways; including sterilizations of community pets, pet food, stationery for school kids, school shoes, sanitary pads for young girls, etc. We have worked closely with 35 animal charities and 8 schools. Another very exciting project has been repurposing Woolworths shopping bags into shade covers for animal shelters. We have collaborated with 3 schools so far (Pikkie Paradys; DF Malan High and Totius Primary) and many friends, and to date (Nov 2024) have been able to source and repurpose nearly 8 000 bags into 3m x 3m shade clothes and offer these to any animal shelters that may need them. (Please contact us should you be in need!)
Our latest project – supporting the wonderful team at Grace Animal Sanctuary with a project they have been spearheading in Wesbank, Delft since lockdown. They currently feed 850 registered children each week with warm meal daily!
Our Team at Ingamu feel humbled by the many people around us who are trying to make a difference. Together we will grow this passion and change animals and children’s lives creating a better world for all of us.
From my heart, thank you to all those who contribute to our cause!
From Cris Ingram, Founder of R&D Offroad and Gobi Expedition Gear