13 May 2020
www.thevillagenews.co.za
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L2L raises record amount for The Butterfly Centre T
he Lighthouse 2 Lighthouse (L2L) ladies completed their annual fourday, 100 km walk from 12 – 15 March this year.
The walkers started looking for sponsors and donations towards the end of 2019 already and, despite worries about raising funds due to the poor economic situation in South Africa, managed to raise yet another record amount for the main beneficiary, which was The Butterfly Centre. "This year's walk was very blessed," says L2L Chairperson Ronelle van Zyl. "Not only did we have the founder of our main beneficiary, Jami Kastner, join us for the first time this year, but we were also so close to not being able to have the walk at all, due to the Coronavirus outbreak in South Africa." Gatherings of more than 100 people were banned shortly after the ladies got back
from the walk, and not long after that, South Africans went into lockdown.
The L2L Awards Evening, where the total amount raised is usually announced, also had to be rethought. After some deliberation, the L2L committee decided to announce the figure on video call with Jami and her husband, Peter, which was recorded and later posted to the L2L Facebook page for the rest of the walkers to see.
The announcement was emotional for both the Kastners and the L2L committee, as the stress and anxious anticipation of recent weeks came bubbling to the surface. But the tears that were shed when Carien Gooding, in charge of finances on the committee, announced the long-awaited figure were happy tears, as the amount raised to help The Butterfly Centre finish building its new school at Stanford Hills was... R800 000!
The top five fundraisers together raised more than 20% of the total amount. They were: Jami Kastner (R63 550), Les Clark (R26 940), Shireen Beck (R25 000), Laurie Troake (R24 408) and Kayang Gagiano (R22 000).
The final amount raised for the runner-up beneficiary, which was Overstrand Hospice this year, was also announced in a video call and this, too, was a record amount – R100 000! R34 600 of the total amount was raised by Hospice and the money will be used to buy two new cars so that their staff can reach more patients. Other projects L2L has helped to finance from their reserve fund this year are: • BARC Cattery (R20 642.57) • Food4Love Soup Kitchen (R40 000) • SANTA Shoebox Project (R3 397.74) • Huis Lettie Theron (R1 823.62)
ESSENTIAL SERVICES – WE ARE OPEN
1. The L2L committee members and the Kastners’ reaction on the video call after hearing that the amount raised for The Butterfly Centre was R800 000. From left are Simone Heunis (Media and Marketing), Marlinda Wright (Charity Liaison), Ronelle van Zyl (Chairperson), Elaine Bayer (Accommodation) and Rebecca Matthysen (Catering), Elna de Villiers (Events Organiser), and Peter and Jami Kastner (The Butterfly Centre). 2. Carien Gooding (L2L Committee: Finance) with the cheque for The Butterfly Centre.
