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Support for REAP

Support for REAP

RCBRW has been working with an organisation called REAP - the Rural Education Access Programme (www.reap.org.za). They identify promising disadvantaged young people (of all racial groups) who are studying for their matr...
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2010 District Conference

2010 District Conference

The conference was held at the Lord Charles Hotel, Somerset West on the weekend of the 14th May 2010. It was organised by the Helderberg Sunrise club and ran like clockwork. Talks were on a wide variety of topics, mainly...
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Molly Smit
Name: Molly Smit
Membership: Ordinary member, PP Nelspruit and Francistown, Botswana
Profession: Public Health Specialist - HIV/AIDS programs
Interests: Traveling, Family, Youth development, Birding
Induction Dinner - Ronel Preston

Induction Dinner - Ronel Preston

Held at the Montagu Country Hotel on 30th July 2010. The Club was privileged to have not only DG Shân Biesman-Simons in attendance, but also DGE Deon van Zyl as well as AG Lorna R...
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Support for REAP

Support for REAP
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RCBRW has been working with an organisation called REAP - the Rural Education Access Programme (www.reap.org.za). They identify promising disadvantaged young people (of all racial groups) who are studying for their matric, encourage them to believe that higher education is possible, guide them through application and support them through university or college.

There are many hundreds of young people whose families have no concept of higher education and are too poor to even think of supporting them. Our Rotary club has facilitated REAP's work in the Breede River Winelands area by using the name of Rotary to bring together the Principals and Careers Teachers of our local high schools at a social occasion and inviting the chief executive of REAP, Clairissa Arendse, to talk about their programme. This simplified REAP's access to the schools and they have recruited several promising young people in the few months we have been working with REAP in 2009.

Food Security Development

Food Security Development
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The Breede River Winelands Rotary Club's Flagship Project is Food Security. Our aim is to assist in the development and support of food security in our region.
The Montagu Food Security Gardens (Sonneblom Gardens) produces quality vegetable produce for the general public and the disadvantaged in need of food. Additionally it supplies vegetable seedlings in the hundreds of thousands to various community programs across the Western Cape of South Africa. Our Rotary Club, together with the Distell Foundation and Claremont Rotary Club, are the Principal sponsors of the program.

Support for Hospice

Support for Hospice
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The Breede River Hospice has received generous donations from the Rotary Club of the Breede River Winelands, Parmalat and the DG Murray Trust. These enabled Hospice to purchase a new vehicle, dedicated to the social work department.

By way of a matching grant, our club was also instrumental in raising the princely sum of R210,000 for Hospice in 2010 .
This money will not only be spent on sorely needed equipment and facilities at the Hospice Centre, but also on the patients in the care of Hospice.

Wheelchairs for needy recipients

Wheelchairs for needy recipients
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To date, the club has collected funds and donated a large number of wheelchairs to needy people, including the Montagu Hospital, Hospice, McGregor Family Centre, Bram Care Centre, Uitvlucht Retirement Home and various private individuals in the community.

A new Chapter for the SAGDB

A new Chapter for the SAGDB
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The Rotary Club of Breede River Winelands (BRW) has recognised the need to give all South African youth the opportunity to participate in sport. To support this goal, the club has decided to initiate the establishment of a SA Golf Development Board (SAGDB) golf chapter in the Robertson Valley and Montagu areas. The SAGDB is the official national body responsible for growing the game of golf in disadvantaged communities and currently runs chapters in six provinces around the country.

Over 3 000 children have benefited from its coaching programmes this year. The BRW Rotary Club will be committing funds on an annual basis to cover the costs of running its local chapter, which will provide coaching to aspiring youngsters from nearby schools. The official launch of the project took place at Montagu Golf Club on Friday 23 November.

Literacy for all

Literacy for all
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The project provides Xhosa-language readers to 160 Xhosa-speaking pupils at 2 lower primary schools in our region, at Ashton (Zolani) and Robertson (Nkqubela) during the first 3 years of school.
The aim is to improve the literacy level, especially in these previously disadvantaged schools in South Africa, where it is very low. The target area is the first three grades of primary school, because then it will have a positive impact all the way through the remainder of a child's school life. Improved literacy will play a crucial role in fighting abject poverty and unemployment.

McGregor Family Centre

McGregor Family Centre
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The McGregor Family Centre provides a pre-school for 25 children and education for another group with severe learning difficulties such as foetal alcohol syndrome and dyslexia. In 2008 they needed to register with the Department of Education but had insufficient toilet facilities. Working jointly with M.F.C. trustee Barbara Jacobs, Rotary BRW upgraded and expanded the sewerage and toilet system to meet the Dept of Ed requirements. Seen in the picture(s) are Past President Ruud De Clercq, Eve Bryant the Centre Manager, and Barbara Jacobs

Leadership weekend

Leadership weekend
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20 Head Boys and Head Girls from local schools enjoyed a weekend at the Eco Impact Centre on the Breede River near Drew. They learnt teamwork in solving problems, they learned about themselves in negotiating high-rope traverses (even the Rotary President did that one!), they had paintball fun, they camped out for the first time in their lives and they made lots of new friends