I face a difficulty in writing this section. I want to honour and give thanks in public to people who prefer to be private. In addition it is inevitable that I will omit some donors, - please forgive and notify me if this happens.
I suppose I could use the argument that their contributions form part of the history of Vrygrond, and therefore fall within public domain! It will also serve to show how incredibly lucky Vrygrond has been, in the kind of donors who have been there to help.

When I look at web sites or information leaflets of other charities, I always turn to the sections on their donors. Sometimes I feel envy at the list of major public companies who have given money, - names like Anglo American, De Beers, Nedbank, Old Mutual and other giants of the South African corporate scene. How do they do it? Vrygrond has never managed to crack donors like these. I have tried, but when sending out funding requests for the school, I was lucky if 2 out of 10 replied. And those two were along these lines:

“Dear Sir, Unfortunately we have allocated out budget for the next thirty years but we wish you all the best in your admirable project……”

If I asked for money to build the buildings I might hear that “we do not support capital projects but only fund running costs”.

If I asked for money to pay for teachers and other educational initiatives, I would hear “we only pay for buildings and not for running expenses…”.

Do I sound peeved? I suppose every beggar thinks his story is overwhelmingly convincing, and I am no different. It was not as if we were a group of feel-good idealists asking for money for an untested and new venture. Our Trust started and drove a housing development which re-housed some 8,000 people in 1,600 new houses. We built and ran a thriving Pre primary school. Our Library just won the award for the best branch library in the province.

We have a great track record of financial responsibility and being able to deliver and sustain community projects. I suppose it is naïve of me to hope that this might stand out among the tens of thousands of other begging letters which these large institutions receive.

The truth is that unless you have a contact who can open a door, who knows someone on the Board of Directors or Trustees, you will be lucky to even get a reply.

Which all makes Vrygrond’s band of donors more remarkable!

DAVID ALTSCHULER got me into this whole mess. We have known each other for 30 years. He left South Africa many years ago and ended up running a leasing business in London. It was his decision to start a Science & Research Park in Cape Town that led to my connection with Vrygrond (the story is buried somewhere in the section on History).

Together with RITA EKER, Dave started a charity in London called One to One. They support projects in several countries, including the Middle East, Kosovo and South Africa.
Vrygrond is not in fact One to One’s most valuable input to SA. They funded early delivery of Anti Retrovirals to pregnant women, an initiative that played an important role in pressurising the SA authorities to address the problem of AIDS when they were unwilling to do so.

One to One paid for half the costs of building the Crèche, and has from the beginning been the main funder for the running costs of the Crèche and Library. That has been a huge comfort, to know that if the other donations received do not cover the running costs, One to One will make up the shortfall. In many years they have in fact paid virtually all the running costs.


JONNY LEVY: Whenever I phone Jonny in London, he is either having coffee with Dave, just about to, or has just finished having coffee with Dave. I encourage their coffee sessions since inevitably the two of them agree to support the next Vrygrond project!
Jonny and his wife Gabrielle Rifkind gave the money to start the Library and used their own house in London to host fund raising events for Vrygrond. Gabs also introduced me to The Funding Network who have given generously in past years.

It was the immediate and enthusiastic support of Jonny and Dave in March 2005, when I first mentioned a Primary School, that was decisive in giving the initial momentum for the school. This was the email Dave sent when I mentioned the possibility of a school.

From: David Altschuler
Sent: Tuesday 1 March 2005 09:38 PM
To: ajax@iafrica.com; Levy Jonny; Harris Ronnie & Loretta
Subject: RE: Vrygrond Primary School

Fantastic …. you now have a lifetimes work ahead !!! we’re with you all of the way…..
Love and hugs to you all
D


RONNIE HARRIS is the third leg in the tripod that has supported our projects from the beginning. Ronnie is an accountant by profession, but seems to spend most of his time working for charity projects. For years he was a key fund raiser for Norwood Homes in UK, whose funding needs and activities are massive. Among other things, Ronnie has raised funds by organising charity bike rides all over the world. He has short muscular legs which help in the bike rides!

Ronnie and his wife Loretta visit SA regularly and invariably give substantial support to the Crèche or the Library. To celebrate Ronnie’s 50th birthday, they paid to refurbish the Crèche and build a security wall around the Crèche. Ronnie’s Vrygrond friend, Thys Witbooi, painted in large letters on the wall “The Ronnie Harris Wall”. One of the few times I have seen Ronnie embarrassed was when he saw this on his next visit to Vrygrond. We forced him & Loretta to pose in front of this ‘mural’.

When the school project was initiated, Ronnie said he would commit to finding £150,000 from among his clients and friends. And he did. Just like that! Some of his clients are famous names in the music and entertainment world and their donations to Vrygrond, through Ronnie, are supposed to be anonymous. But I worked them out from the bank sending instructions! Shhhhh.


DENNIS FABIAN: I like to tell people that Dennis has never given a penny to Vrygrond, yet he ranks among our most important donors! When we were first discussing the idea of building the school, we went to Dennis for advice about plans. He immediately committed his architectural practice to the school, and this has made a huge difference.
The obvious benefit has been that we have had one of the foremost architectural practices in Cape Town designing the place, and with his colleagues Francois Engelbrecht and Lauren Bolus, they have designed a superb school. The fees which they have waived have alone saved the project over half a million rand.
But more than this, Dennis opened the door to many other suppliers giving things to the school either for free or at a discount. Because of his connections in the world of building, he obtained favours and help where I would not have got past the assistant’s assistant secretary. The savings which have resulted from Dennis’ help run well over a million Rand.
I was always touched when Dennis would personally turn up at the site meetings, sitting in the cramped container that served as a site office. I suspect he spent as much time at site meetings in Vrygrond as he did at the Waterfront where his firm was building Sol Kerzner’s new R400 million One and Only Hotel!


MARC & HILDA WORTH: Marc & Hilda became involved only recently in Vrygrond. But the readiness with which they responded to the school was very special. They live in London, came to Cape Town last December on a holiday with their family, visited Vrygrond, heard about the school and committed to give £100,000 (over R1,400,000) in honour of his late parents. This kind of quiet and immediate commitment is unusual, especially considering they had no prior connection with Vrygrond.


URSEL BARNES (nee Berlin-Hasenbichler), brought her small children on a holiday from Vienna to Cape Town on an impulse many years ago, largely to escape the European winter. She is now resident in SA and the charity “Yabonga” which she runs with Ulpha Robertson, has become a serious player in the field of pre primary education and more recently HIV-AIDS outreach care. They funded much of the initial costs of building the new Vrygrond Crèche. Once this was a success, they then paid for a major extension consisting of two new brick classrooms.
Having originally warned us that Yabonga would play no part in running the Crèche, in fact they have given major input through regular visits from their colleague Sally Britton.

ULPHA ROBERTSON, Ursel’s partner in Yabonga, has supported the Creche for years through Yabonga. As an ex school teacher she has attended many of the meetings with the Education Department about the new school and looks set to become a critical part of the educational monitoring for the school.

BOB GRINDROD, who lives near Cambridge in the UK, donated a large sum to Vrygrond some 1 ½ years ago with great modesty and lack of fanfare. In mid 2006 Bob, his wife and daughter spent time in Vrygrond and bought a large quantity of food vouchers for the Crèche kids. His teenage daughter Sonia memorably refused to go shopping in the fashionable Waterfront because she preferred to spend literally hours playing with the kids in the Crèche.

BARBARA AND DEBORAH GRAHAME: Deborah visited Vrygrond several years ago and since then she and her mother have, through their family charitable trust, made significant and regular donations to the Trust which place them among our most serious supporters. They continue to support the new school with even greater generosity.

HARRY SOLOMON has visited Vrygrond from London, and was quick to pay for computers and equipment which enabled some 450 Vrygronders to learn computer skills. Harry has now committed another substantial donation for the new school.

His daughter and son in law, ALAN & LOUISE JACOBS, have committed similar amounts to the new school following their visit to Vrygrond in December 2006.

RACHEL WEBSTER who worked for many years at the neighbouring New World Foundation, raised enough money from Church groups in England to pay for 4 houses used specifically to house elderly people who did not qualify for a new house.

Other donors include

DANNY ACKERMAN who also visited from UK late 2006.
ROY & DEBBIE SILVER, Cape Town.
INVESTEC BANK VIA HUGH HERMAN, Cape Town.
STEWART COHEN, Cape Town.
NICK LANDER & JANCIS ROBINSON, London, who read a funding email to someone else and responded themselves!
WORLD PRESIDENTS ORGANISATION group who visited Vrygrond in June 2007.
JUST DO IT Group based in the UK, via Joanna Thompson.
ROBERT LEWIS in Johannesburg, who paid a teacher’s salary for a year having read a tiny funding advert in Noseweek magazine.
THE FUNDING NETWORK in London has channelled generous donations to Vrygrond.
DAVID & SHEILA POLICANSKY, Washington DC, USA.
ROB & JACKIE ELLERT, London.
DON WALTON who lives in Derbyshire, UK.
LIONEL & FREYA ROBINSON, Monte Carlo.
DANA FLANDERS, CEO of Caltex SA, in his personal capacity.
HELENA KENNEDY & IAN HUTCHINSON, London.
HELEN LIKERMAN, London.
EXCLUSIVE BOOKS, via Penny Hochfeld, has agreed to donate books for the remedial teaching classes.
MAUREEN KREEL, UK.
DAVID BARNES, Brimstone Investment Corp.
TOM EATON, UK.
THOMAS BLACK and family, UK.
JO THOMPSON.
AVITRONICS-GRINTEK, Capricorn Park.
PYROTEC, Capricorn Park.
MARCUS BOWMAN, London.
CHERRY GILJAM, Cape Town.
KEVIN & DEBBIE GUNDLE, London.
AVIVA & PAUL SULKAS, Cape Town.
JUDITH WEBER & NAT SOBEL, New York.
THE ADELE SEARLL MEMORIAL TRUST through the team of Balu, Caroline & Cathy Searll, Helen Burger, Idafay Mervis, Lily Cammerman helped equip the Crèche kitchen and provided other stuff needed by the Crèche.
Schools like SEATON HOUSE SCHOOL, INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL IN ZURICH,  ELTON PRIMARY SCHOOL, CHESHIRE, UK and OAKHAM SCHOOL, RUTLAND, UK regularly include Vrygrond in their fund-raising ventures.

I need also to acknowledge those who donated time and services in lieu of money. The building of the new school depends on several professionals who work for free. Chief among those is

BRIAN RICHARDSON has, through his consulting engineers firm KFD Wilkinson, done the engineering work for free.

ABU VARACHHIA is acting as Quantity Surveyor, also for free.

GROUP 5 Construction are building the school at cost, without adding their profit mark-up, thanks to the generous response of their W. Cape MD Keith Miller.

MOORES ROWLAND Chartered Accountants do the Trust Financial Statements for nothing. Thanks to them and Partner, Norman Silbowitz.

This website has been created by Tiana Stanton, who puts up with my deluge of text and photographs with great tolerance.

In a special category are the people from HERZLIA PRE PRIMARY SCHOOL who, encouraged by Dave Altschuler some years ago, have established links with the Vrygrond Creche that have made a huge difference, especially to the teachers who are regularly supported, encouraged and trained. JOS HORWITZ & ROS HALIDAY are the two who drive this, and are helped by a handful of Herzlia mothers and friends.

I started this entry by noting that Vrygrond has not received significant support from corporate donors. In fact I am proud that Vrygrond’s support has come from individuals; in virtually every case there has been a personal connection between the donor and Vrygrond, and that is very special!

Individuals giving money from their own pockets, which has dramatically improved the lives of some 9,000 men, women and children in a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. Amazing! Thank you all.

If you would like to be a donor then click here to see how to make your donation
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