The chief forensic pathology officer at the Roodepoort Mortuary, Jacques Koekemoer and his team accepted my challenge. We both agreed to collect donations for Community Led Animal Welfare (Claw) who not only takes care of neglected, abandoned and sick animals, but also care for the well-being of the surrounding communities.
Cora Bailey from Claw is well-known in the area for her humanitarian work. She said the wishlist for Claw is first and foremost blankets for the animals. “With the amount of animals we have at the moment, it is hard to keep up in keeping the blankets clean. It is important to keep the sick animals as comfortable and warm as possible to assist in the healing process,” Cora said and added they are also running short on food for the cats and dogs.
Another concern is how the weather affects the children and senior citizens in the community. “Most often the children sleep on the floor because they don’t have mattresses. Some people have succumbed to the cold weather as well. It is heartbreaking to see.”
The challenge, which will end at 3 July, is to see who can collect the most dog and cat food, blankets for the animals, warm clothes and blankets for the community and mattresses for the children as possible. There are no rules and there will be no prize money to the winning team, just the warmhearted feeling that we could do something to make someone’s world a little easier.
Here is how you, our loyal reader can help. Those who vote for the forensic team can deliver their donations to the pathology office’s at the Roodepoort Police station. The people who want to support the Roodepoort Record team can deliver their goods to our offices at the corner of Genl Pienaar and Ham Street, Witpoortjie on or before 3 July.
The only thing we do not accept is cash and we cannot collect donations.
Contact the editor Roelien Vorster on 011 955 1130 for more information.