Another good year for Krugersdorp Rotarians

The Krugersdorp Rotarians welcomed their new president for 2019 as well as a new member at their recent Annual General Meeting.

The Rotarians met at the Golden Age Village and apart from enjoying a wonderful dinner, the evening was filled with lots of laughter as friends came together.

Mareli De La Hunt van der Merwe was inducted into her second term as Rotary President and Mienie Pretorius is serving her eighth year as President of the Rotary Anns.

The evening started with a peace prayer, after which the Past District Commissioner, Tom Barril, from the Germiston Rotary Club, welcomed everyone and toasted the South African and International Rotary Clubs.

“We are fortunate to live in a wonderful country. This is my country; I was born here, have lived here and loved here,” he told the group.

He explained that the Rotary Club was formed by four men who wanted to support each others’ businesses. Eventually, they wanted to give something back to the community because they were thankful for their successes.

Dave Jankelowitz, a past Rotarian president, proposed a toast to the Rotary Anns.

“The Anns are a wonderful group. They have the same passion for assisting people and assist the Rotary Club as well,” Dave explained.

This year, the Rotarians worked on a number of projects. Two of these were the yearly career expo and the Bingo evening.

“The expo was a success and focused on schools in poorer areas. Almost 7 000 children went through the expo this year,” Mareli told the guests.

She also said that the Bingo evening had grown in the past few years, much to their surprise, and thanked all Rotarians and Anns who helped with the event. The Bingo evening is their main fundraising event every year.

The money raised at the Bingo evening goes to two of their main projects, namely the Golden Age Village and the Memorial Flats.

Both these residential areas had their security upgraded this year and the Golden Age Village had a borehole installed. According to Mareli, this will help immensely with costs.

Mienie explained that this year they also spent a lot of time assisting the Golden Age Village and Memorial Flats residents. They hosted Easter and spring teas and a Christmas lunch for the residents.

They also ran a Teddy Bear knitting club at which the residents of these two homes knitted bears that were donated to the Teddy Bear clinic, which helps abused children. They donate between 350 and 500 bears every year.

As for the next year … They have been chosen to host the annual Anns’ conference for the first time in 15 years and are planning to make it a fabulous event.

They also donated R2 000 to the 9th Day Animal Shelter during the past year, donated beanies and blankets to the needy, and ran food projects for The Cradle of Hope and the Polekego shelters.