Nicole Roberts went from being unemployed  to being the founder of an organisation that would be a stepping stone for other charities – this is the story of Carers Unite

Every second month, Club gives away a monetary donation to an NPO that has been nominated by one of our subscribers. It’s our way of giving thanks for the incredible work that these organisations do. One of our recent ‘thank yous’ went to Carers Unite, which was founded by Nicole Roberts in 2017. The kind-hearted 34-year-old who grew up in Mitchells Plain is extremely passionate about helping others, and we couldn’t be more happy to return the favour so that she can continue to live out her passion through Carers Unite.

What is Carers Unite?

A year-long unemployment in 2015 led Nicole to reach out to various charities to be a helping hand. One organisation took a chance on her, named Arisen Women, then Rhema Life Church. ‘I started a senior group in the church and did home-based care training. I met amazing people, including people in various charitable organisations,’ Nicole says. ‘By 2017, I built many amazing relationships and decided that I would open an organisation that allowed people who cared about various causes to unite. This is how the name Carers Unite was birthed.’ Although the NPO operates in Cape Town, they do offer support and guidance to anyone who asks for it, independent of their location. ‘I believe everyone has something they care about and most times people don’t know how to channel that. This is where we come in – we assist to find a charity that works best for you.’Carers Unite is an organisation that believes in changing the world, one human at a time, as Nicole explains. ‘We believe in helping those who are not seen, which is why we created a platform on our site called Chat and Donate. It allows donors (normal people just wanting to do good) to go online to search for a feeding scheme nearby and have direct contact with them.’

The Carers Unite team – which is mainly run by Nicole – believes in encouraging community members to get involved with charities. ‘We guide them to the places that need help. We believe in making the first move by working with the charities first, and then informing people about the them. This way, we make sure we are guiding them to trustworthy organisations. ’Between 2020 and 2021, the NPO shifted their focus on helping feeding schemes with food drives during the pandemic. ‘We realised that we had a great network of support and we shared that with others,’ Nicole says. In 2021, they distributed over 100 000 meals by handing out dry ingredients to various feeding schemes around Cape Town with the help of dedicated donors who donated to every drive they ran.‘In 2022, we took what we learnt and experienced and decided to take it a step further and created an educational activity book. The book is called Why did you wake up today? The name of the book was inspired by my best friend who passed away very suddenly in January 2021 and the content of the book was inspired by the children in the communities we feed,’ she explains. ‘Many of the kids don’t attend school, they can’t read or write and they love Jesus. So what better way than combining it all, making learning fun, and inspiring them to wake up with intention?’ she says. ‘We believe we are creating a positive movement and we want everyone to be part of it.’

A thankful club cares recipient

Carers Unite is a breath of fresh air and without a doubt a valuable asset in our country. ‘We believe our organisation is making a difference in South Africa because we are assisting others; we are teaching people how to share; we are going out into the communities to affirm the youth, encouraging them to think outside the box. We are showing the youth how to treat others; we are inspiring people and we are challenging people to think about why they are put on this Earth with the question “Why did you wake up today?” Nicole has many dreams for the future of Carers Unite, such as seeing the organisation navigate from a head office. But for the organisation to become what she envisioned it to be, they depend on the support of others.

‘Many times we post on social media asking for support, showing people what their donations have done and we get no feedback. It makes one wonder if you are actually inspiring others.’ So, when she got the call that her NPO was a Club Cares recipient, she was filled with emotion. ‘It was emotional to see that someone has been paying attention to what we are doing and believed in us to the point that they entered us – that to me meant the world,’ Nicole says. This R10 000 donation will be used to print more books, pencils, sharpeners and smalls packs of cereal to add in each package, so that each child will receive education along with a meal. And Nicole’s words to the Club subscriber that nominated Carers Unite: ‘Thank you for believing in our vision and the work we do. We would not be around without people like you’. 

Words by Bianca Muller
Photography: Courtesy Images