Rotary Club of Port Alfred is putting in a huge effort to spread some Christmas joy to Port Alfred’s needy communities with its Tree of Joy.
Rotary president Ren Mouton and Petro Horner brought out their Christmas Tree of Joy on Saturday at the Rosehill Mall which has pinned to it 100 random cards with each of them carrying a person’s name and their wishlist for Christmas.
Members of the public who are willing to part with some money and have a heart to provide for a need can choose a card and purchase the wish-list items shown on the card.
Mouton and Horner have been stationed at the mall all week (until) Friday, December 20 to encourage passers-by to take one of the cards.
“This year the beneficiaries of our donor programmes are Loaves and Fishes, Damant Lodge and Children with Special needs. The bulk of the cards however – 60 of them – are for the special needs children,” said Mouton.
Mouton says it is understandable that public are hard-pressed in these difficult times and probably have a need to focus on their own families this Christmas period.
“At the moment we have sold two-thirds of the cards,” she says. “It has been a very slow process but people are exceptionally generous. I cannot thank the public enough … those who have bought cards.”
The cards usually states who the recipient is, with their age and an accompanying wish-list.
“We suggest R100 to R150 that people can spend, however most people are overly-generous … even if the person just wants one thing, they’ll add toys chocolates or whatever … it really has been heart-warming to see the public help us (to help others) in this way.
“We are hoping to finish tomorrow (Friday). The last cards are usually a little slow in selling. We hope that people are going to come out and buy them. We want to make sure that every kid on our list gets a Christmas present,” said Mouton.
“People can either choose to buy the items or they can give us the cash and will buy it for the beneficiaries. Pam Holding has been generous and kind to help us with gift wrap.”
Mouton said they will start to deliver the gifts on Monday to recipients.
“We want to ensure it gets to them before Christmas. It’s not always possible but we do our best.
“We have actually cut the number of cards from 250 to 100 because we know things are financially tight for most people. We are planning a different format for next year which are not sure about yet, but we want to make sure people can buy the gifts without it being much of a financial burden to them.”
