Dear friends,
Oops! The quarterly newsletter has turned into a half-year one.
The first 6 months of 2023 have been fun, challenging, sad, happy, heartwarming, disappointing, joyful.. so many emotions.
Thanks to all of you, children participated and improved their circumstances, felt empowered and contributed to their homes in 2,455 visits over 15 trading days. They removed 33,6 tonnes of pollution from our environment – of which a massive 10 tonnes was plastic!
We are so grateful to every single volunteer, donor, supporter and friend of the project.
Apologies in advance if we omit anyone – please know that you have made a difference – our by-no-means complete thank you list includes:
Liesl Bell for the new poster, the Van Wyk family and BC Contortion for school dresses funding, Maria and Billy Bergaker for clothing donations, Joey and Bettie for making sandwiches, 2cChange and Hotspots2C for the soccer balls and stationery, Karlien and Harry for transporting jerseys from Gauteng, the Baumgartner family for shoe and financial donations, GudSheet for toilet paper, The Office 4 U for donations of printing and great service, Jeffreys Bay Primary school and Miss K for the huge clothing donation, Gerfried and Susan Schuller for soccer boots, visiting and monetary contributions, Denise and family for volunteering and encouraging their congregation in the UK to support the project. Then there is Cecile Kennedy, Gitta, our wonderful “Anonymous” from the USA, Woodridge for art supplies, and Michelle Dillon for packing and sorting them.
Volunteers:
Sadly we had to say goodbye to our darling Pam, who has been the most reliable, valuable and fun volunteer since the very start of the project. She returned to the UK in March. Pam, we miss you and wish you all the very best.
This left a big gap, especially in the clothing department, where receiving, sorting, hanging, sizing, displaying and counting all the donated casual clothing, plus school uniforms, shoes, socks, underwear etc. is a daunting task. Fortunately, Ursula has stepped in and alongside Jeanette and Kerry they have done an amazing job in our red container: “Bernie’s Boutique.”
In March, Nina contacted us to enquire whether she could join our team as part of studying for her Masters in Community Psychology. The course requires that students volunteer in their community for 2 years. What a great, mutually beneficial idea! Nina has become a valuable team member and we are doing our best to be good study material!
Mariska and her kids started volunteering with us a few months ago and we’ve loved having them! They were thrown in the deep end on busy days but they just seem to know when we need them most. The kids were shy at first, but it’s been delightful to see them gain confidence and blossom.
A big group of Dutch and German volunteers, guests of Surf Lodge SA, volunteered in May. Not only were they terrific on the day – so sweet with the kids and not at all afraid to get their hands dirty; but they facilitated hundreds of Euros in donations subsequently!
Charmaine and Dinky are living in Cape Town now, but they make the occasional surprise visit, which is always a cheerful reunion – the kids are always so happy to see them again and they get to see how their favourite “customers” have grown. And Charmaine gets to organise everything that’s become a shambles in her absence.
Then of course, there is our one and only Zack – what a joy it is for all of us to have him on site, with his big heart, kind nature and boundless energy. We love you, Zackles!
Crowdfunding
This platform has worked exceptionally well to raise funds for a specific need thanks to Clair, Lesley and Henry who have made a huge success of campaigning for i.e. soccer boots and hotdogs. We received enough funds to achieve our aim of 50 pairs of soccer boots, field socks and shin pads. Thank you to each and every donor! We also received funds to buy hotdogs from Margaret Ship, Afrinoon …and? CSALT, our amazing student volunteers also stepped up to provide sandwiches.
Marina Martinique
When the organisers of the first “Cru de Marina” wine tasting on water event contacted us in March to say they would like to allocate raised funds to JBay Recycling Project, we were very pleased. We had no idea what they were aiming for and were ecstatic to see that it was a great success. When they contacted us in May to say they’re donating R21,000, we were absolutely blown away!
Food Lover’s Market
Thanks to the kind people at FLM Jeffreys Bay, the kids who participate all receive fresh fruit. On the last trading day before the Easter weekend, they made the day extra festive by donating freshly baked hot cross buns and and Easter egg for every child – ensuring big smiles!
Knitters
A ceaseless stream of knitted/ crocheted items flows to the project from the generous and talented crafters from Jeffreys Bay and as far away as the USA, Germany and Australia. We are always delighted to see a child selecting a gorgeous, unique work of art to take home and adore as intended by its creator.
Onesies
In 2022, Stewardship International committed to a quarterly donation which has been extremely welcome since we are currently without an “anchor” donor. They also encourage us to apply for extra “special projects” funding when needed. In this way, they have provided additional funding for a backup power system – safeguarding us against the very real threat of scheduled power outages. When the cold weather season was on its way we requested and received enough to purchase at least 200 “onesies”. They are available to the kids at 15 Mula (7,5kg plastic). Everyone adores these cute outfits and they serve a dual purpose as warm pajamas and a tracksuit!
Funding
We have been knocking on lots of doors: Lotto, WWF Nedbank Green Trust, Environmental Justice Fund, Kouga Municipality, DRH Rohstoffhandel, Credible Carbon, Ahlstom Foundation, .ORG Impact Awards, Canada Fund, Energy Globe Award, WSL Pure, Waislitz, DG Murray Trust, FNB and many more have all received applications for funding from JBay Recycling Project. Unfortunately, most of these were declined. Suggestions are very welcome.
Possible projects starting
We have communicated with residents of St Francis, Gqeberha and Joubertina (amongst others) who contacted us for information on how to get started. We are always so thrilled to lean that this concept will be benefiting more communities and provide as much information as we can to assist them.
Looking forward to
Our benefactors via Stewardship, Lorel and James, will be visiting in August, so they will get to see some kids going home in those onesies.
Our German friends Jurgen and Ralf have supported the project for years but have never been able to visit in person. This November they are on their way and we are very excited.
The Baumgartners have had a grandchild – congratulations – we can’t wait to meet little Juri.
Then Victoria and David are planning a visit next June – not that far away now. Yay!
Art Auction Reminder
Please remember our annual art auction is coming up! Artwork to be submitted by 10th August. The theme is “miniatures”.
For info please get in touch with Marie or Loretha: 082 393 1120/ 072 1245 8128.
Infood
Jayne and her incredible staff not only provide 200 delicious meals every month, but they are kind enough once again to host the art exhibition in aid of the project.
Nina’s
We are so grateful to the Smith family and staff for your monthly donation of meals for the kids, even now while Alastair is battling cancer. Our hearts are with you and we know you will get through this together. You mean so much to everyone in this town.