Moped Madness, a scooter club from Springs that does long road trips on scooters, has elected to do this year’s drive for a special cause – raising funds for the Jabes Care Centre in Brakpan.

The centre in Sonneveld caters to boys between the ages of seven and 18, and currently has 19 boys in its care. While the home provided by a generous donor keeps the boys safe, and house parents Mona and Fredrik Loubser don’t have to pay rates and taxes, they still face expenses.

These include electricity, school fees, stationery, school clothes and shoes, and fuel costs for driving the boys to different schools and activities.

Their greatest day-to-day need is cash. Moped Madness, which has partnered with the Jabes Care Centre for a couple of years, is aiming to raise R100 000 for the centre with their upcoming trip.

They set off on October 22 at 06:00 from Pawn Your Car across from Triple 7 Motors in Springs CBD, and hope to have all 750 km they plan to travel sponsored by local businesses and individuals.

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It won’t be without returns, as there are promotional packages available according to the amount sponsored. The sponsorships run at R50 per kilometre, and the packages start with a bronze supporter tier at R500, which includes a business name mention on social media and a certificate of appreciation.

The highest tier is a platinum partner, which requires a sponsorship of R10 000 or more.

This comes with premium logo placement on scooters, jackets and banners, daily mentions during ride updates on social media, an invitation to the final handover event, a feature in the recap video and local media, as well as a certificate of appreciation and a thank-you plaque.

Between these, there are silver supporters for R2 500 and gold supporters for R5 000, each with their own benefits. The club is made up of a group of friends from all walks of life who love scooters and adventure.

Their first ride was done on old, inexpensive scooters as a challenge to see how far they could get with only a small tool kit.

This ride will be completed on new, but still affordable, scooters, and will be accompanied by large social media fanfare. On the first ride, the group noticed that many people were intrigued by a convoy of scooters riding long distances, and many stopped them to take pictures or ask questions during past trips.

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For this reason, they believe the trip will attract significant social media attention, which they hope to use to promote the local businesses that sponsored it.

In addition to the cash donations, which will go directly to the Jabes Centre, they would also like sponsorships for food, accommodation and fuel for the riders, of whom there will be eight this year.

“The boys consider relationships above all else, and we know them by name. We visit them to serve them, but they end up serving us – there’s unity and brotherhood among them,” said Herman Rens, one of the organisers and riders.

To accompany the riders, the boys will write cards for the men, as they have done in the past, and Francois Schenck, another organiser, recalls how the cards make the men deeply emotional.

The team can be found on Facebook at Moped Madness SA, on Instagram at @mopedmadness_sa, and on their website at www.mopedmadness.co.za.

For further information or to arrange sponsorships, contact Francois Schenck at 066 301 6284.