Ice for Africa Helping out at the Helderberg Fire.

Another day spent with fantastic people. As terrible as it was, the fire on the Helderberg Mountain in Somerset West has given me the opportunity to meet some amazing people and made me realise once again that being a community doesn’t just happen. It takes effort, lots of it.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised at people’s willingness to give over the past few days. Today, Fruit and Veg City at Somerset Mall donated a boot-full of fruit to the firefighters without blinking an eye. It may not seem like much, but when you spend your day on the phone, asking people you’ve never met to give you free stuff for people they’ve never met, it makes a huge difference. We live in a time where nothing is free, except iPads, one of which I’m still trying to win by the way. But seriously, people don’t give anything away anymore unless they can somehow gain from it.

Over the past few days, many individuals and companies have granted my request and nobody, not one of them, has asked for anything in return. Those of you who follow me on Twitter (@helderberginfo) will know that I have repeatedly thanked everyone who has donated time, money and materials but that was my choice. In fact, I’ve received donations from as far away as Johannesburg from people who insisted on remaining anonymous. In this very short post, I’d like to recap and once again thank everyone who has so selflessly given what they could over the past few days. This list is by no means exhaustive but only includes those who I have dealt with directly.

Mcdonalds Somerset Mall and Steers at Waterstone Village donated lunch to 50 volunteers on Sunday afternoon.Ice for Africa (Cape) and Elite Trucking have given us the use of a refrigerated truck which we’ve been using to chill drinks and keep food fresh. They have even followed up to find out whether we need more ice or diesel. They have not once asked when they will be getting the truck back. The manager at the Caltex Service Station on Broadwaycontacted Ice for Africa after hearing our urgent plea for help on Kfm 94.5 so they are ultimately the ones to thank that we even have the truck. Kfm, who jumped in when we needed them most and started retweeting all our messages on Twitter. When I asked them if they could broadcast the fact that we needed a refrigerated truck, they announced it within 30 minutes and we had the truck less than 3 hours later. As mentioned earlier, Fruit and Veg City at Somerset Malldonated fruit today which was most welcome and helped to sustain the firefighters through their long shifts.MyMoney.co.za, a financial services company based in JHB made a cash donation which also enable us to buy supplies needed for the firefighters.

I am so excited to be a part of this community. Having lived in different countries as well as different parts of South Africa, I can attest to the fact that this feeling of community doesn’t exist everywhere and I am proud to call myself a member of the community in the Helderberg Basin. Show others that you’re proud to be a member of our community and that you are willing to do what’s needed, when it’s needed. Go to http://twibbon.com/cause/Lead-SA/Join and follow the instructions to get your ‘Lead SA’ ribbon on your Facebook or Twitter profile picture.

One last thing, thank you for all the kind words of support over the past few days. It means a lot to me that the project which I have started at TheHelderberg.info is being well received by the public. I will continue to look for ways to get involved and I hope that you’ll browse around the website and make use of the valuable services we offer.

Ice for Africa Cape helping out communities in need.