Her driving force is to bring service to other people, Maggie Fussell, new Coordinator of The Link Literacy and Numeracy Project, told the club at the meeting this week.
The Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn has had a long-standing relationship with The Link after Past President Ian Widdop arranged for a Global Grant for the project in the pre-Covid years.
The Global Grant, which totalled just under R500 000, was meant to enable The Link to open new centres at more and more schools in an effort to expand their operations and the brilliant work they were doing. Then Covid came along and made any expansion impossible.
Maggie's visit to the club this past week was aimed at finding ways to spend the R242 000 left over from the GG while staying within the parameters of the original grant.
She said The Link is at a very exciting stage of its journey reviving the numbers of volunteers which fell off dramatically during the various lockdowns and projects such as The Link in a Box where a set of tools to teach the programme can be bought by schools that are still too far away from the present area of operation in and around Johannesburg.
Link in a Box costs R2600, but if schools cannot pay, they are sold for a minimum of R500 to ensure proper buy-in from those schools, with the rest of the money donated by sponsors.
In an exciting development, she said they had had requests for The Link from Soweto, which they hope will translate into getting a proper foothold amongst that vast population.
One such request came from Nancefield hostels which had a venue in the building formerly used by the Soweto Boxing Academy with a room that could be securely locked. Although the site is presently used to house victims of the recent floods, Maggie said it would eventually become available again.
A distinct advantage is that it is down the road from the UJ Soweto education campus.
They will soon be visiting another possible site in Krugersdorp and have also been approached by a school for physically disabled children in Booysens.
If these centres come about, The Link will have twenty centres for literacy learning, with seven of them providing numeracy training.
"A lot of our friends and new people are coming back, realising that two hours once a week changes a child's life, and changes your life."
"We need to know our centres are operating well. We concentrated on quality not quantity, but now we need to get our name out there."
Upcoming Events: Because of the Easter weekend and holidays, there will be NO MEETING on Wednesday, 12 April.
On Monday, 17 April the AGM of the Christ Church Christain Care Centre (5 Cees) takes place at their home in Berea. The address is 15 Mitchell Street and the building, an old hotel, faces onto Louis Botha Ave.
It is an ideal opportunity for members who have not engaged with 5Cees yet, to pay them a visit and learn more about the great work being done at the home. To top it all, they serve a great curry for dinner.
You can contact me if you need more details. The ideal is for a few members to get together and go there together by car. There is safe parking, although somewhat limited, so get there early.
The annual inter-club blanket drive also presents an opportunity for a member to take responsibility for co-ordinating the club's response to it. Blankets will cost R90 each this year and the basic task will be to find a way of raising funds for the blankets and finding worthy recipients before the winter sets in.
The secretary will have the details.
Another opportunity to get involved will be when Paul Kasango's plan to arrange an outing for the staff and patients at Woodside Sanctuary comes together. Paul asked for ideas for such an outing and will obviously need volunteers to help on the day.
A Thought for the Week: Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more fools in it than ever. - Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834)
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