AFTER hearing his mother bemoan the state of the street signs in the Sunningdale area, Luke van Niekerk and his best friend, Slade Shadowshot, decided to take action. The Virginia Preparatory Grade 6 learners thought out a plan of action and began cleaning the grime and dirt on the street signs in the area.
So far the duo have cleaned seven signs in the area, using a bucket of water, two scrubbers, and some dishwashing liquid and a small ladder.
Their goal is to try and clean every sign in the village. Their efforts were praised recently on the Village of Sunningdale Homeowners Association – Residents Facebook page.
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“I think its had a positive impact on the area as we’ve had people volunteer to help out. Some residents say they’ll even clean the signs on their street which is great. Ultimately we would love to see the whole community get involved which would be awesome,” said van Niekerk.
His enthusiasm was echoed by his best friend, Slade.
“I believe if you do something good, there will always be something positive to take out of it. It’s been great to hear and see the words of encouragement on the Facebook page,” he said.
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Luke’s mother, Lauren, said she had incentivised the cleaning of the signs with promises of pocket money.
“This all started out on Facebook with residents bemoaning the state of Sunningdale, overgrown bushes, potholes and for me the dirty street signs. So I was complaining about the issue to the boys in the car when they offered to help. That’s when I said I’d give them pocket money for every sign they clean. I took a photo and posted it on the Facebook page, not expecting much of a reaction but the response was amazing. Residents really warmed to the idea of what the boys were doing and I even suggested residents honk their horns in support of the boys when they drive past, which has happened,” she smiled.
She added she hoped to keep the momentum going by venturing out once every three weeks to clean the signs.
Following the boy’s initiative, Marshall Security has rewarded them with a R250 voucher each and say they will reimburse Lauren van Niekerk, for all the cleaning materials used.
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