Rotary and Hope & Halos teamed up to help people in drought-stricken areas

The below average rainfall in many parts of the country has led to a drought in areas such as the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng.

In Springs, the Rotary Club of Springs and Hope & Halos have teamed up to help people in drought-stricken areas.

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The two organisations have a #justadrop project happening at the Kattitude Valentine’s Market, which takes place in the Scout Hall, Colliery Road in Lodeyko on February 3.

The event with start at 9am and end at 2pm.

Siobheanne Landsberg, president of Rotary Club of Springs, says: “The Rotary Club of Springs has been involved with many community service projects in Springs for over 80 years.

“One of our main avenues of service highlighted by the Rotary Foundation is water.

“We realised how desperate the plight of water resources down in the Western Cape was and we felt we had to step in and help.

“The people of Springs are truly resilient and inspirational, and we know that the people in our community will definitely step up and help with this initiative.

“The Rotary Club of Springs teamed up with Hope & Halos for this project because they felt that they would be able to make a bigger impact as partners,” says Landsberg.

“Our aim is to bring a bit of relief to the people of the Western Cape.

“If we all do one tiny act of kindness we can make a massive difference.

“We would love to distribute the water to the people that need it the most as well as some of the animal shelters who desperately need it.”

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People are urged to donate 5-litre bottles of water, but there is no limit to how much they can donate.

“Any size bottles will be gladly accepted. Or alternatively they can fill up any containers they have at home (provided that they are cleaned and sanitised),” says Landsberg.

The bottles need to be marked ‘T’ for tap water, ‘B’ for borehole water or ‘R’ for rainwater.

“We currently have a gentleman who has offered to fill up empty bottles with water from his borehole, so we’ll happily accept empty bottles too.”

Although at present the project is a once-off event, the two organisations are hoping to continue throughout the year, depending on how many donations they receive.

If people cannot make it to the event on the day, they can contact Siobheanne Landsberg or Louise Mahwhinney, the director of Hope & Halos, to make an arrangement.

Alternatively, members of the public are welcome to drop off empty containers that can be used, or to make a donation to the Rotary Club of Springs or Hope &Halos in order to purchase empty drums or bottled water.

“If people would like to help at the collection points with loading and offloading, we’d only be too happy to have extra hands,” Landsberg adds.