Together Action Group (TAG)
Lorraine Cockrell and Rhoda van Buuren met each other through the Community Engagement of university of Johannesburg many years ago. Rhoda comes from a big family with 6 siblings( 6 sisters and one brother) and learnt from her mother to always do good and help those in need. Rhoda’s career in the earlier years was mostly spent in corporate South Africa working for investment companies and although she got to travel and work with famous local sport teams however, Rhoda knew that she wanted to do more and help others. She left the corporate space and focused on raising and supporting her kids as well as many of the kids in the family.
In 2001, Rhoda began to volunteer her time at Together Action Group in Westbury. The Organisation was still trying to launch and Rhoda’s expertise in administration and project management helped TAG build their operations. With 19 years of service at TAG, Rhoda is the Operations Manager at TAG and helped build the After School from 20 kids in the beginning to now working with 150 children attending the After School. Rhoda is an incredible Mother to the After School kids, Leader and Project Manager. She has led many projects at TAG to help struggling community members . Some of the key projects she has led is blanket drives for the elderly , soup kitchen initiatives and grocery hampers during COVID-19 serving over 1 000 people annually through the projects at TAG.
Rhoda received an honorary award as a founder member of TAG in 2015 for 15 years of service and received an award for her humanitarian outreach from RegionB and Handpack. Rhoda was also featured in the Star Newspaper for making every day Mandela Day in 2013. The University of Johannesburg(UJ) recognized Rhoda with at a special awards as Community Engagement partner. Rhoda works with other incredible volunteers and TAG members to make an impact in the community.
The community knows Rhoda as an exceptional woman with a heart of Gold but also someone that is resilient and straight talker! She loves kids and her expertise and love of community shows through encouragement and support woman in the community.