Pounding the Pavements of Parkview

The great raffle race has begun for the Golf Day. With a wheelbarrow full of booze parked outside the Parkview Spar the crack New Dawn team started accosting innocent shoppers to donate money to charity by buying tickets to win the big prize.
    With 30 September closing in, it's all systems go. Golf days are not easy, as experience has taught us, but despite this the club has not done too badly in the past. We need to do better this year.

Jankees Sligcher took time off his District duties to pay a visit to the Parkview crowd selling raffle tickets. From left it's Judy Sligcher, Linda Vink, Judy Symons and Amina Frense, who had a bumper day.

     Next weekend the team, with a few possible newcomers and definitely some old-timers coming off the bench as impact players, will renew their efforts to add to the Golf Day fun.
     Linda has also decided to try selling tickets at the Parkview Golf Club tomorrow night at the club Pizza Night, so if anybody wants to join us and take one for the team by sharing a pizza, you'll be very welcome!
     We need to put in every effort possible, as the Golf Day will be taking place in difficult circumstances, partly because the Wanderers Club is having a charity golf day on the same Friday as ours. This has ruled out a number of potential players.
     If any member knows of anybody who can play, please forward the details to them. You can get these from Greg or myself.
     In the meantime, a thousand thanks to the team of Judy (Sligcher), Judy (Symons), Linda and Amina who collected R3700 with their first effort. The aim is to get at least R15000 from the raffle and we're even thinking of filling two wheelbarrows with booze to entice more people to buy tickets!

The Wild Serve speakers last week were Michael Schenk (education officer), Michelle
 Bucher (rehabilitation specialist) and Dirk Engelbrecht, a director.

     Last week's speaker was Dirk Engelbrecht, a director of Wild Serve, an NGO that aims at the rehabilitation of wildlife found in urban areas.
     Dirk told the club many city people don't realize that even hadedas are considered indigenous wildlife, which by law the government must protect.
     Wild Serve's Johannesburg base is in North Riding, close to the Dome and Northgate, and its aim is to rescue compromised indigenous wildlife and threatened ecosystems and to help communities to become involved in biodiversity conservation.

Aiming high ... the mission and vision of Wild Serve

     "The biggest part of what we do is education," said Dirk. He said Wild Life has a budget of R2,5 million a year and brings in donations of about R250000 a month.
     It rescues about 60 to 70 tortoises a year, and workers have to drive up to 300km to release them into relative safety in the wild.
     He said duikers are also quite common in urban areas, and there are owls all over the place.

Some of the animals, birds and reptiles that have been rehabilitated

     Other animals that have been taken in include cerval, otters, hedgehogs, bats, frogs, crocodiles, about 15 to 20 genets a year and bat-eared foxes.
     In 2013, 10500 animals were helped; in 2014 it went up to 12000, and last year it was 13000. This year there have been about 19000 animals in government facilities, many requiring serious rehabilitation.

Brian Skosana in jovial mood

     Another very welcome visitor last week was Brian Skosana, who co-ordinated the Rotary Family Health Days last year on behalf of the club and the Rotary Club of Johannesburg North East. Paul Kasango has taken over this task for 2016.
     This must be the first time we've seen Brian since this time last year, but we all know him to be a committed Rotarian who is rumored to be planning to launch a new club in the Bedfordview area.
   Joburg New Dawn would, of course, love to have him as a member and will keep on pestering him.
   If you happen to see him, ask him when he's joining!

   

Kathryn Smith

     Most of us have heard Greg Smith brag about his daughter Kathryn, a forensic artist at the Liverpool John Moores School of Art and Design in England.
     Now we have the opportunity to hear first hand about the ground breaking work this artist, academic and scientist has been doing. She's on a visit to South Africa and has agreed to get up early tomorrow morning to speak at the club.
     It promises to be one of the highlights of the year.
     The speaker the following week (28 September) also promises to be exceptional. Adv. John Myburgh, SC, also a retired judge, will be talking on American politics and the upcoming election.
     Both speakers deserve as big an audience as we can muster!
     Dates to Remember: The Golf Day is on Friday, 30 September and the Rotary Family Health Days are on 12-14 October. The Macsteel Cycle Race is on Sunday, 6 November and the Christmas Dinner on Friday, 9 December.
     The Golf Day, Macsteel and Christmas dinner are our only three remaining fundraising opportunities for the year, so all help and contributions will be welcomed. Remember, without funds we cannot do much to help others who are less fortunate than ourselves.
     A Thought for the Week: The secret of getting ahead is getting started. - Mark Twain (1835-1910)