Cub raises funds for shelters

A grandfather is a child’s first friend in life. He is a role model, a teacher, an advisor – and the man who keeps the best biscuits in his house for his grandkids’ visits.

Protea Ridge (Roodekrans) Cub, Damon van Zyl’s grandfather is no exception. At the core of the nine-year-old’s relationship with his grandfather, Brent Robertson lies a deep-rooted joy for both creating and serving.

“I’ve always enjoyed spending time with my grandfather because he teaches me a lot of things. He’s helped me make things like bottle lamps, key racks and a super-cool hand-crafted wooden gun, to name a few,” he said.

Since Damon was a toddler, his grandfather has taught him how to make things with his hands and their counterbalancing relationship has always enabled Brent to teach in a way that stimulates his grandson’s curiosity.

“He also taught me the importance of animal welfare. Since he volunteers at a few shelters, he was keen to help me with an Animal Welfare and Care task that was assigned to us by the Scout Group,” Damon explained.

It wasn’t long before Damon took up the assignment as a personal project. Since the duo resonates with this particular project, they have appealed to the bigger community to support their worthy cause.

They are currently asking all animal lovers and community members to make a donation in the form of pet food or cash as he would like to help keep local shelter animals fed. According to Brent the average shelter’s running costs increase by up to 40% during winter, mainly due to the increased use of blankets, electricity and fuel among other things.

Thus far Damon has managed to collect just over 120kg of pet food which was delivered to the Roodepoort/ Krugersdorp SPCA on Friday, May 27. Since it’s an ongoing winter project, the duo hope to deliver the next batch of donations to another local shelter in need.

“With the skills my granddad taught me I aim to make a few things to sell. This will help us raise more funds which we can use for dog food. I just love making stuff with my hands, and I think it would be great to help the animals in the process,” Damon said.

Thanks to his grandfather’s influence, Damon fully acknowledges the importance of sterilising, vaccinating and microchipping pets, and hopes to create awareness and educate the younger generation around the matter.

If you would like to support a little boy in his quest to help local shelters, feel free to contact Brent on 082 734 5988.