The Vodacom Shop Celebrity Golf Day, an annual highlight on the Western Cape golfing calendar, took place on the Western Cape’s Best Conditioned Golf Course, the Pearl Valley Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course on Val de Vie Estate, on Thursday 18 October 2018. Celebrities participating in the day included former Springbok captain Jean de Villiers, ‘Die Heuwels Fantasties’ lead signer Pierre Greeff, Bobby van Jaarsveld, his sister Karlien and her husband Joe Breytenbach. Sport stars Herschelle Gibbs and Rob Louw defended their 2017 title against the likes of AJ Venter, Allan Donald, Chester Williams and Tiaan Strauss. Commenting that they “would not give up their day job” Joe Pietersen, Schalk Britz, Heinz Winckler, Neels van Jaarsveld and Frank Rautenbach nevertheless had fun playing for this great cause.
The all-ladies team of former Miss World, dr. Rolene Strauss, Nanette Nel, Marinda Waldeck and Lizanne Heydenrych were triumphant on the day and walked away with a score of 92. The team were off to a good start when Nanette Nel sank a 60-foot putt on her first shot of the day.
The auction dinner, hosted in the Pearl Valley Conference Centre, raised R700 000 in aid of the Val de Vie Foundation. The funds will be allocated to saving lives and empowering learners from the 19 severely under-resourced schools in the Paarl area, through addressing the issue of non-visible pedestrians.
This year, the Val de Vie Foundation is helping to keep our children in school by providing reflective school bags and road safety awareness training, together with shoes with reflective strips to learners in the Valley. Approximately a quarter of Western Cape learners do not attend school and, while there are many contributing factors, road safety and a decent pair of school shoes are issues that can be addressed and transformed.
In the Paarl-Franschhoek Valley, most learners walk to school, some as far as 5 kilometres there and back daily. Road accidents involving the learners occur mainly because the young pedestrians are not visible to motorists. The Val de Vie Foundation has partnered with Visibility is Life – an organization dedicated to improving the safety of all pedestrians by educating the youth on road safety and providing reflective gear. With a portion of the funds raised from the 2018 Vodacom Shop Celebrity Golf Day, a selection of Grade 3 learners attending non-fee-paying schools in the Valley will be provided with a school bag with reflective strips on the front and back.
Buccaneer School Shoes – established in 1905 as a South African family business – is also partnering with the Val de Vie Foundation to ensure that, with the balance of the funds raised, the most severely financially challenged learners in under-resourced schools in the Valley will receive a donation of robust school shoes, with a customised reflective strip.
Over the last two years, the Vodacom Shop Celebrity Golf Day has made a considerable difference in the lives of children living in the Valley. The 2016 event raised sufficient funds for the construction of a roof over the quad at Orleansvale Primary in Paarl. In 2017, a record amount of funds raised ensured that almost 700 preschool 3-5-year olds in Paarl East and Mbekweni’s under-resourced creches, nominated by Valcare in conjunction with the Val De Vie Foundation, were provided with a daily breakfast porridge for 10 months.
Click HERE to watch the Val de Vie Foundation – Vodacom Shop Celebrity Golf Day 2018 cause video.
