Fundraising

Car Competition 2006 was a very busy year in the Fundraising Department for the S A Guide-Dogs Association. We started the year with the launch of our Car Competition at the Rand Show. This year we were very kindly sponsored a Daihatsu Charade CXL from Daihatsu and Imperial Car Rental. The show started on the 14th April and finished 17 days later. Over that period we sold the wonderful amount of R74 741.60 in car tickets and donations. A very grateful thanks must be conveyed to these two companies on their generous donation. Throughout the year we have sold tickets at different shopping centres and exhibitions and have had wonderful support from the public. The car competition closed at the end of September and the final draw took place on Wednesday the 18th October at the Training Centre and the car was won by Ivan Zhuravlev of Bryanston.

Johannesburg Winter Ball Our Annual Winter Ball at Castle Kyalami took place on Saturday the 3rd June and even though it was cold outside, inside the ballroom was warm, cosy and magical. This year the ball was called the Purina Whimsical Ball, with naming sponsor coming from Nestle Purina and Revlon being involved with the Association. Once again Edith Venter Promotions were the organisers of the event. The patron for the evening was Alex Jay and the master of ceremony was Paul Rotherham, both well known 94.7 Highveld Stereo personalities. Once everyone had finished dinner, which was of the usual high standard that we expect from the Castle the evening got down to the real nitty gritty of raising funds for the sponsorship of current and future guide dogs. We raised R368 353 and a big, big thank you to all who gave so generously – we are most grateful.

See Me Campaign During the month of August we ran the SMS Campaign called “See Me”. which was a huge success attracting over 25 000 hits. I am sure lots of you will remember seeing the advert of Talya and her puppy whilst on your travels around Johannesburg.

Annual Guide Dog Family Day On Sunday 1st October we held our Annual Guide Dog Carnival (Family Day) at the Training Centre with lots of fun being had by all. We would like to thank all our loyal supporters who delivered all their unwanted books and goodies for the white elephant stall and book stall. Those two stalls raised the magnificent amount of R16 961.55 between them and we raised a total of R54 570.30 on the day.

Cape Town Ball On Saturday 21st October we had the Cape Town Ball at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. The Cape Town Ball was also organised by Edith Venter Promotions. Alex Jay was the patron and master of ceremonies for the evening and R198 000.00 was raised for the sponsorship of future guide dogs.

Golf Day On 26th October our Golf Day took place at Dainfern Golf Course. 30 x 4 balls took part in the Golf Day at Dainfern Golf Club and we really felt so sorry for all the players as it was an extremely hot day. I think they were all very pleased when they could sit down and have a drink at the clubhouse. Fanie de Villiers was the MC for the evening and as usual had everybody giving generously at the auction. R60 000.00 was raised on the day and a grateful thanks must be given to Fanie de Villiers and to all the players who took part on the day. Hope we will see you all next year.

Kimberley Clark Kimberley Clark ran a promotion for us for the months of October to January whereby you SMS'd your name and address and a special bar code number, which you obtained from a packet of Baby Soft toilet paper, to them and you will be sent a Guide Puppy toy.

Carols By Candlelight On Wednesday the 6th of December we held our Carols by Candlelight evening, with the Welsh Male Voice Choir at the Training Centre. We had a record number of people attend the evening and R33 000.00 was raised for the evening.