A golf day for charity
CONSTANTIA KLOOF — Local company gives back to Sarda in time for the festive season.
An annual golf day between the customer and suppliers of F Smidth encouraged every golfer to put their money where their mouth is by donating to a certain amount of money for a birdie or an eagle.
The company presented a R13 000 cheque to local NGO South Africans Riding for the Disabled Association (Sarda) on 20 November, at their offices in Constantia Kloof.
The company’s director and general manager Alistair Calver said a wager was put up to the golfers. For every birdie that was made, R200 would be donated to a charity and for every eagle, R500 would be donated.
“We ended up with 37 birdies shot on the day and one eagle. We had around R7 000 which was just short of the R10 000 threshold. We also collected
R2 300 on penalties from the golfers for not shooting any birdies and all of that rounded up to the R13 000 that we donated today,” Calver claimed.
Alistair admitted that they are approached by so many charities and NGOs, that it very difficult to pick just one, but they always give back to the charities in their communities. He added, “We certainly feel that this charity has a good cause and we know that the funds will go to good use.”
This is not the first time the company has worked with Sarda and according to Calver, they were more than pleased to assist them in any way possible.
Sarda Gauteng’s fundraiser Julia Morris beamed that they were more than excited when they found out they had been nominated as the beneficiary.
“It’s absolutely amazing,” Morris added, “and it means we can pay our stable manager this month. We battle because we do not have regular financial backing and our centre costs R50 000 a month. This means a lot to us, it also gives the centre a bit of exposure. Perhaps there are people who would like to volunteer or help in any way they can. We have more than 100 children that ride with use weekly and for each child that rides, we have three on the waiting list.”
FLSmidth’s marketing co-ordinator Marinda Kerr concluded that Sarda was the obvious choice after she heard about their work with the West Rand School for the Disabled. She added that they first began working with the NGO two years ago and when she was asked to nominate a good cause, Sarda won hands down.
Details: Sarda 011 58 5044 or sarda@earthcentre.org.za
