Welcome To St Andrew's Church, Newlands, Cape Town

In 2009, St Andrew’s made donations to the value of R475 280 ( not far short of half a million Rand ) and the allocation for 2010 is slightly higher.  In view of the economic climate of the year 2009, what we paid out last year was amazing and that we are hoping to have an even higher target in 2010 resounds to the credit of every parishioner who has contributed to our funds for charitable use. I think St Andrew’s has done extremely well.

As the person responsible for spending and monitoring the use of this money, I have to confess to having underspent on our budget. It is not always easy to give money away!! Sometimes projects which have been planned have suffered delays because of clumsy administrative procedures,  sometimes circumstances at
the charity concerned have changed and we have had to adapt or re-direct the funding.  That is all in the nature of the game.

I am grateful to the MTN Committee for its breadth of vision and flexibility and particularly to our Treasurer, Noel Peagam who is unflagging in his support and who knows so well how to manage our funds.

The report on our donations and our budget for 2010 speak for themselves, but I would like to comment on a few items:  

LifeXchange is a new name on our list of charities. We have been impressed by their dedication to the young people-at-risk in their programme and will be helping them during 2010.

Our bursary students have,mostly, performed satisfactorily, but we are concerned at the lack of students entering technical / artisan training and are at present negotiating with the FET colleges in this regard.

The packing of food parcels for HIV /AIDS victims, which is our contribution to the Diocesan HIV /AIDS project, is ably controlled by Frank and Eleanor Wright.  It continues to flourish and gives parishioners the opportunity to make a hands-on contribution.

Nonkqubela ( Gugulethu ) and Sizisa Ukhanyo (Khayelitsha )are the two pre-schools which have received the  most substantial funding in 2009. This money has been used for building  and maintenance  and , in 2010, the same pattern will continue. Less expensive needs, like that for educational equipment, have not been neglected but are perceived to be secondary to the major issue of accommodation , which is clearly beyond the budget of these pre-schools.  In 2010 we plan to donate books, mostly well illustrated story books in Xhosa, to the pre-schools we support.  We hope that their activities will be enriched and mother tongue language will be promoted by this means.

Our list of shelters and homes continues to grow.  In some cases ( Safeline ,Crawford and Percy Bartley House, Woodstock ) we provide help in the form of clothes, furniture  and skills support. In others our financial donations are quite substantial but are always specifically directed.  I would like to thank Nicole Rickerts for her work in providing shoe boxes and school equipment to the girls of St George’s and Meagam Hughes for her work at St Michael’s . Meagan has given much time and energy to her weekly visits there and I’m sure they have been appreciated. Let me also take this opportunity to thank Dawn Jager and all the “knitting ladies” who respond do wonderfully to the appeal for jerseys.

Two particular ‘thank you’s’ are due:  to Penny Middelkoop for handling the Blikkie Blitz, a demanding job which comes at the end of the year when we are low on energy and to David Sykes for his incredible willingness to pick up jobs that need serious input – whether it be policy decisions or professional  expertise, and also of course , for his running of the soup kitchen

All that remains then is to urge every parishioner to keep up the good work – whether it be raising money for the morning market or collecting tins during the Blikkie Blitz.  “You are doing great”  - as they say in the USA, if not in the Classics.