Around R13 000 was raised during St Andrew's College's third annual 24 4 🙂 charity event last weekend 13 to 14 September.
Around R13 000 was raised during St Andrew's College's third annual 24 4 🙂 charity event last weekend 13 to 14 September.
24 4 🙂 (24 for Smiley) is a fundraising initiative started by St Andrew's pupils in memory of Stuart 'Smiley' van Oldenborgh who passed away in a plane accident two years ago.
The event has become one in which people celebrate the lives of people who they have lost, said Tim Barnard, the school's community engagement officer.
Matthew Archer, the 2013 community engagement portfolio prefect at St Andrew's and one of the organisers of last year's 24 4 :), was killed in a motorcycle accident earlier this year. Many of this year’s participants ran or walked to honour Matthew’s memory.
Barnard said that as an event it had spread, with supporters as far afield as Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Johannesburg, Kentucky, the United Kingdom, Australia and India.
Many different activities count, the main criterion being that the number 24 should be key. Barnard said a pupil from an independent school in Johannesburg spoke to her school for 24 minutes about her experiences in a poor rural Eastern Cape School, to persuade 24 of her peers to donate 24 pencils each.
Barnard said much of the money raised would be used to support children's education in the Child Welfare Safe Houses in Joza next year.
