LCSA November '17 Newsletter

LADIES CIRCLE SOUTH AFRICA

NEWSLETTER 2017

Hallo Ladies I cannot believe that it is already time for our second Newsletter.

Since our last Newsletter I’ve been to Sweden, Estonia, Denmark, Turkey and Cape Town and managed to squeeze in two Circles visits – PE Pearls LC19 and Swellendam LC22 (twice). Thank you so much for Sonel (LC19), Madeleine (LC22) and your lovely ladies for spending some time with me and always opening your homes to host me, it is much appreciated.

Swellendam LC22’s hosted our second Council Meeting earlier this month. Once again a huge thank you goes to LC22 for organizing an epic weekend; we are looking forward in revisiting Swellendam next year for the LCSA AGM. Thank you for making the weekend affordable for everyone to attend and also for opening your homes to host us.

We had loads of Circle Birthdays this term, starting off with East London LC23 (4 years), Swellendam LC22 (5 years) and PE Pearls LC19 (6 years) – congratulations and we wish many more wonderful Circle years ahead. On that note I would also like to welcome new member Evanéll Zeelie to Garden Route LC20 and new Pipeliner Yvette Cornelissen to Edenvale Lc6.

Chantess, Peta-lyn, Judy, Bronwenn, Cheslyn and myself spend two weeks speed-traveling from South Africa to Estonia to attend the Round Table International World Meeting in Tallinn and then to Denmark for the Ladies Circle International Conference in Sonderborg. Judy and Chantess prepared an article for the newsletter and you can read all about our adventures in there. Our new LCI President is Anne Ahlefeldt from Finland and her motto is #MakingADifferenceThroughActsOfKindness. Thank you so much for the privilege and honour to represent LCSA at the LCI Conference. We had amazing times and made lifelong memories. Start saving now Norway 2018 and The Netherlands 2019 is waiting for you!

Agora International also recently held their AGM and their new President is Isabelle Séguinot from France and her motto is #LetsDoMore. Happy ACI Day on the 14th of November – wishing all Agora ladies from South African and all around the world a happy year ahead.

Registration for the LCI Mid Term Meeting 2018 in Gaborone (Botswana) is open, please contact me for more information or visit their Facebook Page @MTM2018Botswana.

Thank you to all the Circles that contributed to the success of the Cupcakes of Hope Project. I am so proud that we managed to donate +- R45,000 towards the project. The collective joy and excitement that goes with this project is really amazing! Thank you to all the Circles that is busy with fundraisers for our NSP Project Dignity. I am looking forward in seeing your flyers and pictures on Social Media.

In closing I want to ask each and every one of you to continue being proud ambassadors of LCSA. We are not big in numbers and only have a couple of Circles, but we as a Service Organization have value and we make a huge difference.

We do amazing service in our communities and through friendship we uplift one another and it is time to shine and show others that we are not inferior. Thank you to all our members for making a difference – I am a PROUD Circler!

Please enjoy the newsletter and thank you for everyone that sent in their contribution. A special thank you also goes to Bronwenn who is helping Judy put everything together.

Yours in Friendship and Service Michélle

National Cupcake Day 2017 National Cupcake Day is without a doubt the sweetest way to save a life!! It’s so heart warming to see so many Circles supporting our past NSP in such a big way.

All funds raised are in aid of Cupcakes 4 Kids with Cancer.

Cupcakes 4 Kids with Cancer is a non-profit company who aims to raise awareness and funds for families in need of medical assistance, with their biggest annual fund raising event being National Cupcake Day. Circles donated beautifully decorated cupcakes to help raise funds at Malls and events in Louis Trichardt, Groblersdal, Paarl, Swellendam, George, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and East London! WOW!!!

We even had a German Circler – Kristin – who supported Cupcake Day at Paarl Mall, along with Round Table Paarl 44.Ladies Circle South Africa donated cupcakes to the value of R45000 + to National Cupcake Day 2017, adding to the amazing total of more than R1.8 million raised in only 1 day!

LCSA National Project: Project Dignity - SUBZ There are an estimated 9 million girls in SA who miss up to 3 months of school every year while they menstruate because they don't have access to or can't afford sanitary products. The aim of Project Dignity is to reduce absenteeism and drop-out rates in schools and increase opportunities for girls to complete their education.

Project Dignity has developed a pack of washable, re-usable panties and sanitary pads that can last for up to 5 years. LCSA will raise funds and assist in raising awareness for this amazing project.

For more information visit: www.projectdignity.org.za | www.subzpads.co.za Or email: sue@subz.pads.co.za

Your FYI on Homehosting HAPPY TRAVELS Thanking back on my Round Table & Ladies Circle travels for the past 14 years I would like to share a couple of important things on home hosting. I remember being totally outside of my comfort zone the first time I was home hosted. Just the thought of showing up at a ‘strangers’ home and blending into their life just freaked me out. Never did I expect it to be such a wonderful experience! To this day we are still the best of friends, and now thinking back at that very first hallo, brings back so many fantastic memories. Since then I have travelled all across the world and truelly enjoyed each and every experience when I was home hosted.

In return I always open my home and grab the opportunity to make new lifelong friends.

As Circlers we are part of the Ladies Circle family of friends, which gives us a wonderful opportunity to travel and meet Circlers locally and internationally. There are certain rules and behaviour, which must observed to make your trip successful and enjoyable. Being home hosted is a privilege, and not a right, and should never be taken for granted.

In my experience communication is the key! First make contact with the Circle in the town you are wanting to visit. Let them know well in advance of your trip, when you are arriving and the planned time of your stay and they will let you know who will be able to home host.

Based on my personal expereinces, and also refering to the LCSA & LCI Guidelines, here are some things to remember when being home hosted: Ÿ

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Your host have their families, work and other commitments and does not always have the time (or means) to indulge in your every need. So please do not expect them to wash your clothes, transport you wherever you like to go or to prepare all your meals.

Always be considerate and kind towards your host and their families.

Do not expect the luxuries of a 5-star hotel – you are being hosted by a friend in their homes. You will receive everything you need – fresh towels, clean linen and a place to sleep.

It is not necessary, but if your host put water, fresh fruit or snacks in your room, please remember to show your appreciation.

Discuss your itinearary with your host during your stay. If you are dependent on their transport to and from Circle events, please remember they are doing you a favour. If you are feeling ill or for some other reason need to leave earlier than planned, discuss it with your host. She may have obligations at the Circle event and will not always be able to transport you at that moment. Alternatively make use of a taxi or public transport back to your host’s home if necessary. Please try not to cause any inconvenience for your host.

If you have special diatary requirements let your host know in advance or try your best to fit in with your host.

Do not expect private trips or sightseeing tours – home hosting is not a holiday but rather an opportunity to spend quality time with your Circle friends and it is also a way to save cost on accommodation during your Circle travels.

On departure, it is expected that you give your host a small gift to remind them of your visit. It is not only curtusy, but also good etiquete!

Remember to be yourself and to treat your host as you would like to be treated. Our motto is Friendship and Service – “Friendship” means having a good time together and “Service” does not mean taking advantage of your host. Home hosting should be a wonderful experience for both you and your host.

Wishing every one Happy Travels!

South Africa Ladies Circle know how to do a road trip!

It was Michelle Jacobz from Garden Route 23, Judy Theunissen from Shiraz 8, Bronwenn Odendaal from Northridge 7 along with Peta-Lyn Foot, Cheslyn Dunlop and Chantess Wiggill from Edenvale 6 that started the journey 17 August 2017.

We attended Nations Night on the Friday evening where we tasted all sorted of interesting food and strange drinks and was fantastic to meet so many Tablers from around the World! We partied the night away in a typical Estonian nightclub with our own Round Table and wives from South Africa joining in the festivities. The gala dinner was beautiful and humorous to be sitting at a table full of Tablers whereas we sit at LCI with a table of ladies. We are super proud of Round Table South Africa for winning the best International Magazine – the INKUNDLA for 2016 – 2017 as well as Spidey Knepscheld the Past RTSA President that was elected as the RTI Board Assistant which is their Community Service Officer. So proud!

It was an awesome experience which we will never forget filled with laughter and fun and thank the RTWM 2017 for their fantastic hospitality!

One of the best weekends ever!

Two flights later and we were all in Billund and spent the evening in the Legoland Holiday Village. 6 ladies with a lot of luggage make for interesting space organizational skills. We spent the day at Legoland and loved the day appreciating the creativity and skills to make beautiful masterpieces.

Another bus and another train later, we ended up in Sonderborg where we settled in the hostel for the week. By now we are experts in space challenges with the tiny space in the room.

Most of us attended the Councilor’s Dinner which was in the beautiful Sonderborg castle and ended up at the Coldwell to finish the evening. It was the first time we were able to meet and greet our friends from the last year and spent a late night catching up. The parade is always one of the highlights with a lovely choir and some dancing at the opening and then as we didn’t walk enough in town, we walked the 2 kilometers back to the Coldwell where we all partied the night away. Another fantastic evening meeting up with everyone and the amazing Danish music that was out of this world. We missed all the food as there was not enough for everyone but we managed to find enough wine. The AGM was very long and almost missed the bus to get ready for the home party but as always, enjoyable to experience the excitement as the new board members are announced as well as the new ISP and AGM for 2020.

The President cocktail party is always a special event with the outgoing board and past officers taking loads of photos as one of the last memories.

Congratulations to Gry Haugen and the LCI Board of 2016-2017 for an exceptional year and wishing Anne Ahlefelt and the new LCI Board 2017-2018 a fantastic year ahead filled with awesome memories. The evening then commenced with the gala dinner with about 1000 ladies and really cool to see the numbers above the tables as table numbers. We partied the night away as we all knew it was time to head off soon. Another train, bus and plane, with a comedy of events on the last day, we all arrived home tired after an amazing weekend.

Thank you to Mette Lindekilde and the ladies of Sonderborg for your hospitality and awesome memories.

GARDEN ROUTE LADIES CIRCLE Pensioner’s Braai Day In George we have a lovely relationship with all the Service Organizations. A couple of years ago we made an official pledge between the clubs to work SideBy-Side with one another and since then we have been hosting two combined projects every year. The first being the annual Pensioners Braai and then finishing off the year with the Santa Flight project. We have combined meetings on a regular basis, various socials and we also show support to one another’s projects where possible. The clubs are: Eden Lions, Outeniqua M.O.T.H.’s, George Rotary, George Vryburgers, Garden Route Ladies Circle 20, Round Table 30 and the George Lions.

At the recent Pensioners Braai we invited 60 elderly people from various Old Age Homes in George. All the gents from the various clubs got together and braai’ed for everyone, while the ladies were in charge of making salads and dessert. We have a local oom-and-tannie band that play old boere musiek for entertainment. It is so nice to see these old folks dancing and having some fun after lunch.

Garden Route Ladies Circle were able to invite 10 people from Huis vir Bejaardes JJ Watson. They are our new beneficiary for our Circle’s elderly project.

Garden Route Ladies Circle – Travelling Scarf Garden Route Ladies Circle No 20 was recently represent at the LCSA Council Meeting in East London by Michelle Jacobsz and Elizabeth Theron. Whenever there is a Road Trip these ladies jump to the opportunity, this time was no different! We stopped at Nanaga Farm Stall just out Port Elizabeth, Port Alfred and Jefferies Bay for a quick picture with our Travel Scarf.

Like always we had loads of fun and laughs along the way – travelling really does wonders for the soul! Thank you to Riana Otto (LC4) and Sonel Lindeque (LC19) that joined us for the PE – East London stretch.

Garden Route Ladies Circle – Badisa As most of you know Garden Route Ladies Circle No 20 has a project we do with Tuiniqua Old Age Home (Frail Care Unit), were we treat the elderly with a small treat and gift on their birthday, Mother’s and Father’s Day. Two years has passed and we have decided to give another Home the opportunity in George.

We have identified Huis vir Bejaardes JJ Watson – they are an old age home affiliated to BADISA and they rely on funding from various churches and the public. We will start with our Birthday Project again in October 2017, but in the meantime we are collecting various items that they have on their wish list.

We recently were able to donate a bag filled with towels and also a special toilet seat. Our aim is to grow this project and hopefully be able to provide reading material, food and other basic needs they have. Watch this space …

Filling Hungry Tummies How wonderful it is to make a difference to those in need. Although it feels like a drop in the ocean of need, PE Pearls Ladies Circle donated all the soup ingredients and bread on 14th October that fed 300 children at the Faith Hope Love Ministries Soup Kitchen. It is just heart breaking to know that there are so many hungry children out there.

Please contact us at pepearlsladiescircle19@gmail.com if you would like to make a monthly donation towards this project.

Sunflower Day 2017 On the 15th of September PE Pearls were part of the ordinary, everyday people who do the most extraordinary things that make a real difference.

Each of us bought our Tope of Hope, promoted the day and made sure that all our friends and families make the effort to register themselves on the Sunflowerfund BoneMarrow Registary.

Have you registered yet? Why not do the right thing and visit https://www.sunflowerfund.org.za/be-adonor/register-stem-cell-donor/ or call their toll free number 0800 12 1082.

Circling for Friendship

MANDELA DAY 2017

Life is way to short to not have some fun. For PE Pearls LC19 it is important to not only make a difference in our Community, but also to make sure that we keep our bond of friendship strong as members, by spending time together. Every month we make sure that we have at least one social event and then each member also gets to pass the Friendship Bottle on a one on one basis.

To highlight but a few for the last quarter – Unicorn Café, Fish & Chips evening, Mexican & Craft afternoon, Kids Company Luncheon, Cocktails at Salt and Milkshakes at RocoMamas.

July 18th brought on Mandela Day and this year we decided to do a shift to help Food Forward SA. It turned into such a fun event, that we ended up doing four shifts. We did our part to make a difference in the lives of more than 12 million people who are hungry each day. Donations collected at Pick n Pays, were ofloaded at the Warehouse and we unpacked, labled, sorted and our feet repacked lots and lots of non-perishable items. The that lift us to ls ge an e ar s Friend atmosphere were uplifting and new friendships when our wings fly. embering how to m were made. A great networking day as well. re e bl ou tr e hav

LOUIS TRICHARDT LADIES CIRCLE Braai Day Cupcakes for kids with cancer

24 September is National Braai Day and also known as Heritage day.

On this day Lalapanzi have a festival with entertainment and stalls and Ladies Circle 4 Louis Trichardt joined them with a fundraiser for Cupcakes 4 Kids with Cancer. More information can be obtained on their website: www.cupcakesofhope.org A great big Thank You to everyone for their support and donations!

Photo Left to right Front: Riaan Hamman, Cherise Gamble, Riana Otto, Diane Otto Back: Kobus Klopper, Donald Nagel, Gerda Nagel Nie op Foto: Annette du Preez, Riaan Volschenk Cupcake Donors: Annamarie Bothma Corrie Dercksen Elizma Pohl Elze Venter Erika Grobler Karen Bezuidenhout Magda Leeson Nada De Villiers Rika Herman Sharon Botha Suscha Erasmus Vicki Richardson

EAST LONDON LADIES CIRCLE Winter Blanket Drive What did we do?

For our Mandela Day East London Ladies Circle 23 did a side-byside project with Lions Beacon Bay. ELLC23 assisted with knitted blankets made up of squares.

The Chintsa Ladies helped by knitting the squares and sewing them together to make blankets. We attend one of their meetings and told them more about Ladies Circle and some of the projects we do. They also gave us feedback on projects they do within the Chintsa community.

A total of 103 blankets was donated. LIONS Beacon Bay, in conjunction with East London Ladies Circle and Beaconhurst Primary School, handed out a total of 43 blankets to Khanya Youth and Community Development Centre.

The word KHANYA means – Light and Guidance. The name indicates a focal Point in the community…….a place in which to focus one’s energies, talents, a place to meet and to express one’s self, to gather one’s resources, to set forth and a place from which to guide others.

Thank you to all who contributed towards knitting these blankets! More handouts will follow shortly….

EDENVALE LADIES CIRCLE Wow, where has this quarter gone!

It feels like just yesterday that we were at the National AGM in George and getting the new year started.

Edenvale has remained true to our Old Dears at Edenhaven playing bingo regularly. It is a special time that we all look forward spending together.

We have been privileged to help a number of new families through our Kit-A-Kid campaign. We decided that there are so many children in need of assistance so through the cold winter we supplied full uniforms to 2 children, as well as clothes and school bag to a young girl at Natasha’s son School.

One of the other families we identified was the Wevel Family. Initially they received a donation of school uniforms and food parcels but their need was so great that on Mandela Day, with the assistance of The Seek Group they were given R3800.00 worth of Groceries, Stationery and clothing to help them along.

For Mandela Day we also donated R6800.00 groceries and much needed items to The Haven. The work we do as Ladies Circle goes such a long way in providing a little bit of relief, which is always so special.

Edenvale gave a donation of R2000.00 to the Knysna SPCA after the devastating fires. I can only imagine what it must have felt like to be caught up in the emotion and havoc that the fire caused.

We also hosted a Bowls Day in Springs. I always imagined that Bowls was for the more mature individuals but I will confess that it was a blast and will definitely give it another try. A day being outside, enjoying the winter sun and the company of old and new friends make these events all worthwhile. We even made it into the Springs Advertiser which is a great way to get ourselves recognised in the area.

Congratulations Cheslyn on a great fundraising event!

Mid-August Cheslyn, Chantess and myself headed off to Estonia for the RTI World Meeting and then on to Denmark for the LCI AGM weekend.

Estonia is so beautiful and the conference was well organised. The Round Table guys are welcoming and super accommodating that we felt right at home. It is so strange to see a hall filled with men rather than the ladies we are used to. Denmark was an adventure. From our day in Legoland to the bus and train trips – which we nearly missed, to the conference and meeting of friends, there was not a moment we would replace. I am always so overwhelmed by the hospitality of the people and the genuine friendships we make along the way. I have said it before but this is one experience one should never miss out on and I have no doubt we will be heading back to Norway in 2018.

Chantess and myself had a dinner with Ruth Curry (Past LCI Secretary) when she was on holiday in South Africa with her family.

Always super fun to catch up on news and laughs with the wonderful ladies from around the world.

Peta-lyn Foot - Past Chairman, Edenvale Ladies Circle

ERMELO LADIES CIRCLE Ermelo is a rather small ‘dorpie’, with large city problems!

Unfortunately, when people in the city lose their jobs, they move to their families in the smaller town, putting a huge strain on very small resources!

Due to this, Ermelo Ladies Circle often find ourselves with so many more requests for assistance than what we can handle! This, on its own, is heartbreaking. We therefore try and make a difference where we can. Our current projects, are as follows: Koskas: We feed approximately 32 children at a local primary school. What started off as once a week projects, sometimes escalates to 2-3 times a week. We insist that when we supply food, it has to be a balanced meal with at least 2-3 vegetables, a starch and meat. It really does not help the children to give them a sandwich! On Monday’s, we cannot stay ahead, as the children are extremely hungry after a weekend. We tend to cater for about 45 children on Mondays, as many of the kids come back for seconds and thirds!

Cosmos Orphanage: In Ermelo, we currently have 2 orphanages that are very well looked after by many organisations. We have therefore decided to assist Cosmos Orphanage in Kriel. This orphanage currently has 93 children in their care. Many of the children sleep on the floor as they do not have enough beds. Breakfast often consists of mielie meal with no milk or sugar. The children have very few clothes. We have done a few collections to try and address these issues and have managed to gea few people to assist us.

HEARTBREAKING! Jail and Bail: We are in the progress of organizing our annual Jail and Bail Blood Drive. This will be held on the st 1 December and SAPS has already agreed to assist us with the arresting of our inmates. Still a lot of work to do.

Just this past week, we have been fortunate enough to assist families with 3 beds and have another 2 beds on the way!

Small things make a huge difference!

Yours sincerely Uzanne Marè Chairman 072 7655 689