At just 17-years-of-age, Armand van der Merwe had set his mind to raising money for a charity.
As a home-schooled pupil, Van der Merwe will be sitting his GED (General Educational Development) from the USA at the end of the year and not the standard matric subjects associated with the South African matriculation certificate. His subjects are maths, English, science and history. When he has completed his GED Van der Merwe wants to work in the hospitality industry on cruise ships.
“He and his aunt came here to volunteer late last year and it was great to see Armand take up his own self-imposed challenge,” said Soup Kitchen chairman Craig Ellis.
“I realised I had some free time and decided I wanted to put it to good us,” said Van der Merwe. “I needed to know which of our charities I could help the most and, after careful consideration, I decided on the Port Alfred Soup Kitchen.”
Van der Merwe chose to hold a raffle and, following consultation at the Soup Kitchen, in March of this year he began putting his plans into action.
After securing the prizes Van der Merwe, assisted by his girlfriend, Chanel Bray, made sure that all the tickets were sold at various events or simply through word-of-mouth.
The draw for the raffle took place at the Soup Kitchen on Thursday July 22 and Talk of the Town did a Facebook live video for the occasion.
In total, the Soup Kitchen received funding in the amount of R13,800 from the raffle.
“We are very grateful to Armand and wanted to acknowledge all the work he put into his fundraising effort,” said Ellis.
The Soup Kitchen presented Van der Merwe with a special certificate on Monday for all his hard work, and for the amount he managed to donate.
