Calling all Centurion heroes

West Pack Lifestyle and Centurion Rekord want to honour those who stand out, who give without expecting anything in return and who put the needs of others before their own.

Whether it is the man who selflessly helps highlight the plight of residents or the woman who works behind the scenes to ensure a local school runs smoothly – we want to help you thank them and tell their stories!

READ MORE: Calling all heroes in Centurion

This week, Rekord spoke to some of the heroes who had been nominated thus far,

namely Muhammed Docrat (20),  Sanmarie Lamprecht (32) and  Charlene Gebhardt (26).

Lamprecht said it was a great honour to be nominated as a hero. She has been involved for the past “six or seven years lending a helping hand wherever there is a need for it”.

Her non-profit company, Angels Among Us, reaches out to the needy with food parcels, clothes or whatever the need may be.

Fellow community members also assist.

“We reach out in Rooihuiskraal-North where I reside, but we also get involved in the whole of Centurion or even further.

We assist where we can with what we can.”

About her chances to win the competition, she said she does not really see herself as a hero, “because our area has many wonderful people who assist others”.

Docrat was surprised to learn from Rekord that he had been nominated as a hero.

He is a volunteer firefighter and assists Laudium Disaster Management as a first responder whenever he can.

Gebhardt found her nomination “interesting” since she is an intermediate life support medic as well as a local snake catcher.

“I wonder what people appreciate most, I suppose to get rid of those snakes,” Gebhardt joked.

“I was trained by Arno Naude from the Snake Bite Assist and responds to residents’ calls when they discover a snake they want to have removed.”

She said she was quite busy the past season and removed many snakes and especially lizards from residences all over Pretoria.

“My mother and I also appeared on Kwêla as the mother-daughter snake catching duo.”

Gebhardt also works at a school in Centurion where she lives out her “passion for assisting people in need of medical assistance in emergency situations”.

About her winning chances, she reckoned “competition in Centurion is very tough when heroes are concerned”.

Gebhardt said she is responsible for the school’s first aid department, lending assistance and also gives training at the school in this respect. She has previously been employed by a hospital and ambulance service as a paramedic.

Each month, West Pack Lifestyle and Centurion Rekord will make a nomination form available online.

All you have to do is fill in the form, nominate a community hero and they could stand a chance to win the title as well as R1 000.

Your community hero will also be featured in an article in the Centurion Rekord, both online and in the newspaper, so that they can share their story with the whole of Pretoria.

Scan this article using the PixzAR app to visit the Rekord website and fill in the nomination form.

Nominations will be taken into consideration by the Rekord team and a winner will be selected each month.

This article has amended.* 

The form is also available below: