To facilitate promoting its operational excellence and continuous improvement to become the most admired dairy in Africa, the “It’s All Good”-campaign aims to put Woodlands Dairy and the First Choice brand on the map as a sustainable company that operates under world-class process, and delivers products of an exceptionally high standard.

The campaign idea is to display the brand values and vision.

“We believe in operating our business in a way that spreads the greater good for people, the planet, and producing high-quality products that consumers love,” comments Tinus Pretorius, GM Sales & Marketing, Woodlands Dairy. “It’s an extension of our brand story to be able to allow others to share in our vision, just as we appreciate those who work to get great products from cow to consumer.”

Goodness runs through Woodlands Dairy’s veins, from the well-being of its team, its dairy farmers, the communities in which it operates and serve, as well as looking after the environment to lessen its carbon footprint, and the impact the business has on the world. Woodlands Dairy and First Choice truly believe that to produce a product which consumers love, it has to love what they do, and those who help to put its products on consumers’ tables every day. Food with goodness, as its very origins.

Further to this, Woodlands Dairy’s commitment relates not just to ensure the safety and quality of their food products, it includes minimizing the impact on the environment.

The three pillars of “It’s All Good” covers: Promise (high quality and business integrity), Planet (importance of conservation), and People (all people are important).

Promise

We place high quality and integrity at the heart of our business. The G-Free mark is our promise that our products are of the highest quality, conforming to international standards. We source milk from predominantly pasture-fed, free roaming cows using cutting edge technology and stringent quality checks. We honour our commitment to excellence and sustainability of our planet.

Planet

We recognise the importance of conserving our planet, and as such, we developed the Woodlands Dairy Sustainability Project. The programme covers issues such as environment, sustainable farming and animal welfare. We consistently aim to reduce our carbon footprint, which is audited annually.

People

All people are important. We value our Woodlands Dairy staff, farm workers, suppliers, customers and consumers. In addition, we are privileged to contribute to the Kouga community at large, through our CSI and Education Bursary programmes.

Humansdorp

Kate van der Merwe Pre-Primary
The school made a plea to Woodlands Dairy to repair their building but building contractors appointed by the company found that the building was irreparable. The land was purchased by the Lex Gutsche Education Trust and in partnership with Woodlands Dairy the old building was demolished and building of the new school is underway. The new school will open its doors in 2017.

KwaNomzamo Home Community Based Care
This organisation visits families in KwaNomzamo who are infected and affected by Aids and who receive no monthly income. Woodlands Dairy assists with food parcels for 10 families every month for a year and this is the 5th year of involvement.

Sewende Laan Soup Kitchen
Selamma Oersen, who is well known in the community for assisting children and the elderly, feeds approximately 160 people in the Sewende Laan community, three times a week. Woodlands Dairy admires her effort and donates groceries and 20 loaves of bread each week. The company has assisted the soup kitchen since 2009.

Little Angels Day and Educare
The Educare Centre in Arcadia was established in 2015 and the work that the owner, Aletta Korkee of the crèche has put into the project to date, speaks volumes of the care she has for the children she educates. This inspired Woodlands Dairy to assist her in making the project a success. Space was limited and a Wendy House was purchased and installed. Equipment needed such as a guillotine, printer, laminator, tables, chairs and educational materials were also purchased. This year we will assist with partitions and doors for their ablution facilities so that children have privacy when they use the facilities.

Joykids International
Run by Hennie Visser or ‘Oom Hennie’ as he is known in the suburb of Gill Markus, this is a non-profit organisation with the aim of bringing joy to the lives of children aged 1 – 16 years old. They meet on a weekly basis, where the children participate in a fun programme and are given something to eat. Woodlands Dairy ensures that there is a good health drink for each child, which can vary in numbers of up to 300 per week.

Child Welfare SA Humansdorp
The company plans to get involved with a Back to School Project in the first quarter of next year, with the supply of windbreakers and jerseys. In the previous Back-to-School Project, Woodlands Dairy supplied funds for 74 pairs of school shoes. This year in February it provided school shoes, windbreakers and other school clothes.

Bet-El Revival Centre
When the Bel-El Church realised how many children came from school to a home where both parents were either unemployed or not around to give them anything to eat, they started a soup kitchen to take care of and feed 100 kids and homeless people, who sleep on the street in the vicinity of the church. Supplies for the soup kitchen are provided on a monthly basis.

Emmanuel Daycare Centre
Wilma Busher runs a day-care centre for 15 toddlers aged between 1 and 3 in Kruisfontein. She cares for these children for a minimal fee per month to assist parents who cannot afford to pay elaborate fees to keep their children safe while they are at work. In the past, assistance was provided by purchasing tables and chairs for the children to work on as they used to do all their activities on the cold floor. This year we will purchase educational equipment as the school lacks these at present.

Jongilanga Service Centre
This project is a planned programme of activities designed to promote well-being through social and health-related services of the KwaNomzamo Community. It is a day-care centre for pensioners. Their vision is to provide due care to the lives of the helpless, neglected and destitute pensioners so that they live as valued members of society with a peace of mind. To assist with their social activities we will purchase games, wool, knitting needles, blankets, plates and cups.

Kruisfontein Service Centre
The centre, situated in Kruisfontein, takes the form of a club for senior members, who meet three times per week to connect with other individuals of the same age and enjoy lectures and recreational activities. The company did some refurbishments, including buying an urn, sport and kitchen equipment. The senior citizens also receive groceries on a monthly basis.

Nkqubela Créche
Nkqubela Créche in KwNomzamo, operated by Margaret Mtsele, caters for 30 children from 1 to 4 years and has three teachers. We have assisted the créche with stationery, blankets, mattresses and crockery in the past. This year we will assist Margaret by upskilling the three staff.

Pink Panther Daycare
With the growing number of children who are at home without a carer during the day, Woodlands Dairy assisted by providing this project with a Wendy House, because the space they occupied was too small. Last year, the school had a need for tables and chairs. Because we know that colour brightens up a room we opted to purchase tables and chairs in a variety of colours. The suburb of Vaaldam, where the facility is located, is very cold during winter and we are happy that the little ones will not have to sit on the cold floor anymore. This year equipment to build a play park will be purchased.

Kruisfontein Educare Créche
The crèche was established in 2001. 55 Kids are cared for and the institution receives no government subsidy. School fees paid by parents are minimal and they often struggle to maintain the building they occupy. We identified that security is a risk at the crèche. The doors are always closed for fear that the children will run outside and go missing. Security gates will be purchased for this project. The toilet cisterns are broken and it is time-consuming to fill it with water during the ablution routine for 55 children. New cisterns will be purchased.

Haasbekkies Daycare
The main purpose of the centre is to provide a safe and secure place for the kids of Arcadia and surrounding areas. They care for 70 children. Currently, children access the facility via the kitchen which poses a safety risk. We will purchase a Wendy House which will be equipped with the necessary ablution and sanitation facilities.

Jeffrey’s Bay

Ithemba Family Support Centre
Previously we assisted with supplying a fitted kitchen and appliances and this year we will assist with educational material, stationary and eight pin boards for classrooms. The company will purchase stationary, sport and educational material.

Madiba Bay Créche
The organisation serves to sustain the development of children in disadvantaged communities in Jeffrey’s Bay. They strive to care for and support children through education and nutrition. They aim to create a safe environment for these children. We will supply the school with 25 web beds.

Joshua Project
This community project, based in Pellsrus, caters to the educational needs of youngsters, who have passed the school going age and are battling to cope with their studies and have not completed their schooling. This is also a Drop-In Centre in the afternoons to between 50 – 70 children, who are offered a sandwich lunch. We have assisted this project with financing a portion of the costs of repairs and maintenance to their building and the training of facilitators in the past. We will purchase a gas stove with oven and a TV for their centre.

Healthy Mom and Baby Clinic
The clinic, situated in Central is independently run, but they work closely with the Department of Health to make ante and post-natal care, baby care, family planning, pap smears and cancer screening accessible. HIV/Aids and TB testing play an important role in their work with the women and children who visit the clinic as they implement protocols for the prevention of transmission of HIV from pregnant mothers to their children. A good filing system is vital to the administration of the clinic. The clinic was in need of an extra filing cabinet and office furniture for the midwife, sister and reception, which we supplied in 2015. A Wendy House was recently donated to the clinic to be used as an additional weighing room and a second-hand shop. Fittings are needed for this area which Woodlands Dairy will supply.

Rehoboth Assemblies of God
This church feeds between 40 and 80 children from its premises, three times per week. Aside from the provision of food, they assist with attendance and also coordinate recreational activities and programmes that promote healthy, functional families. Woodlands Dairy recognised the need in the community and supply groceries once a month to assist them.

Meals-on-Wheels Community Service
This is a humanitarian initiative that strives to bring relief to the country’s less fortunate and aged, irrespective of class, colour or culture. During winter they have a blanket drive which we will support by supplying a minimum of 100 blankets.

St Francis Bay

Margeret’s Soup Kitchen
Margaret Vena feeds approximately 80 children every day of the year with breakfast from the kitchen of her home in Sea Vista and we supply her with 80 litres of First Choice milk, as well as the ingredients for the porridge, once a month. We purchased an urn to ease the burden of boiling water for the two large pots of porridge she makes every day. This year we will continue supplying porridge ingredients. Woodlands Dairy is supporting Margaret for the 5th year.

The SA Dairy Championships held some exciting news for First Choice this year!

Creating quality products is what the business sets out to achieve. It is always great when time after time these quality products are recognised. The 2017 Dairy Awards Championships held in Cape Town on 17 March was no exception. First Choice walked away with first prize in the Mild Cheddar category. This award is a prestigious one because numerous brands in the market compete in this category.

The First Choice Unsalted Butter also won first prize, with the First Choice Salted Butter winning second prize. Congratulations to every employee who made the awards possible!

1st Prize

First Choice Mild Cheddar

First Choice 500g Butter Spread

2nd Prize

First Choice Unsalted Butter

3rd Prize

Processed Cheese

Feta – Plain

Flavoured Milk – Strawberry