Lions enjoy a Cuppa for Cansa

The Lions Club of Wilro Park met on Saturday 12 October to chat over a cuppa in aid of Cansa.

The club’s Sandy van Heerden was overexcited about the events of the day and asked the Record to join in. Loud and inviting chatter greeted the journalist at their clubhouse in Roodekrans. Tables were set beautifully in green and white, each with a unique tea set and plants in recycled milk bottles as gifts for each guest.

“We try to recycle whatever we can and as often as we can,” said Van Heerden before introducing the Cansa representative, Global Hero of Hope 2013 titleholder Ester Pretorius. Pretorius attended with her grandson whom she said “regularly attends these charity events with me”.

The guests roared with laughter when guest speaker Minette Dempsey told the grandchild that his grandmother is exploiting him and that she is willing to help him out. Dempsey is a well-known motivational speaker from Boksburg and spoke to the Lions members and their guests about the heart and the importance of gratefulness as a key to happiness.

“Most of these cancer-related charity events have serious talks by guest speakers, and we wanted to lighten the mood – Minette was the perfect solution.”

A silent auction of various items fuelled the generosity of the guests. Van Heerden explained that though the main purpose was to raise funds for Cansa, another tradition will raise funds for the Sunflower Foundation.

“Each year at the end of the afternoon we release over 100 balloons in memory of someone we have lost or in celebration of someone who has survived – it really is quite beautiful!”

The balloons were available for purchase during the tea party and were to be released afterwards, each containing a special message by its buyer.

“We handed over R5 000 to Ester from Cansa and will be donating R1 000 to the Sunflower Foundation.”