2010 November | Grootbos Foundation

We, as the Grootbos Foundation, are very pleased to announce that we have been included in the Pack for a Purpose website (www.packforapurpose.org).

Pack for a Purpose was established by Rebecca Rothney and her husband Scott during their first trip to Africa. Since its inception, Pack for a Purpose and its partners have made several trips to other African countries and have been able to deliver an estimate 1 000 pounds in donations of clothing, school and medical supplies.

By asking travelers to pack 5 pounds (approximately 2.27 kgs) of supplies, they felt that they would be able to involve everyone who wanted to add value to his or her trip by participating. By delivering supplies directly to the traveler’s accommodation, it would be possible for every traveler to contribute and require no logistical support. That amount would only take a small space, require little effort and still make a big impact.

For further information on how to participate in this wonderful initiative, please visit their website www.packforapurpose.org.

Absa Spaces for Sport (Gansbaai) won the Mail & Guardian’s national Investing in the Future Award for 2010.

In the run-up to the Fifa Soccer World Cup, recognition that sport could help community development led to the opening of the Gansbaai Communal Sport Centre in 2008. “Sport is a wonderfully simple way to break down social barriers and bring people together on even terms. For the youth of our townships, it inspires pride and determination to succeed,” says Michael Lutzeyer of the Grootbos Foundation, who initiated the project.

The award was based on the successful partnership of the stakeholders in making the Gansbaai Communal Sports Centre a success: Absa Spaces for Sport, Overstrand Municipality, the Grootbos Foundation, the Football Foundation of South Africa, Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, and the Barclays Premier League. Youth sports and education development programmes at the centre take place on a daily basis, with holiday programmes and other events throughout the year. The sports facility has touched the lives of not only children and sports enthusiasts, but everyone in the community as it promotes social change given its location right in the middle of three culturally diverse communities.

The Investing in the Future judges were unanimous in their praise of the model. They referred to it as an integrated, comprehensive programme that offers poor communities a range of positive interventions.