Rotary project receives community’s support
These wish cards were then displayed on a large Christmas tree donated by Grandiflora and shoppers were able to select cards and buy the gifts requested.
Rotarian Lesley Crowe, a member of the Edenvale Rotary Club who organised the Tree of Joy at the Greenstone Shopping Centre, said the project received great support from shoppers.
“When we started the project, we wondered whether we would be able to fulfil the wishes of all the disadvantaged people, but by Christmas Eve, we had collected over 900 gifts,” she said.
In addition to the gifts received, a number of shoppers also made donations to those less fortunate.
The Tree of Joy project was initiated and managed by the Edenvale Rotary Club, and supported by the Knights Pendragon, the Johannesburg East Rotary Clubs and the Bedfordview Inner Wheel Club.
Each club obtained lists of wishes from disadvantaged communities and charities in their area.
The Rotarians then copied each person’s wish onto a wish card.
These wish cards were then displayed on a large Christmas tree donated by Grandiflora and shoppers were able to select cards and buy the gifts requested.
These gifts were then wrapped and distributed to the charities just before Christmas.
Along with the Tree of Joy, Edenvale Rotary Club manned two of the gift wrapping kiosks, supplied by the management of the Greenstone Shopping Centre.
“Shoppers were generous when making donations to have their presents wrapped. The money raised will be used for projects at charities in the Edenvale area,” said Rotarian Lesley.
