Collecting Sporting Goods for Cape Town's Underprivileged Kids

Dear Family and Friends

Next year is the soccer world cup in South Africa. My Dad and I have put together a road trip which will see us take in 14 matches around the country. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and one which we’ve been planning for over 2 years now. We have been lucky enough to get tickets to see games at all 10 stadia around the country.

Now, my Dad is obviously paying for all of this but he’s asked me to come up with R10 000 as my contribution to the 2010 Road Trip. So I’m going to be washing a lot of cars, doing DIY work etc over the next 9 months so that I can raise this money.

But I’ve come up with an idea that will not only help me to raise my funds but will also help the not-so-lucky South African kids, most of whom will never get to have an experience like I’m going to have.

My plan is to collect sporting equipment for underprivileged kids in Cape Town’s townships, and to ask friends and family to sponsor my efforts.

My aim is to collect as many old sports shoes (soccer boots, trainers etc) and tennis balls as I can possibly can over the next 8 months. These will then be distributed to the underprivileged kids by an organisation called Sporting Chance (www.sportingchance.co.za), which has been running for eighteen years. They provide sporting clinics to children around the country, and they coach school teams in all areas of sport. They also take children off the street and teach them to enjoy sport, as well as about basic health and nutrition.

I intend collecting the sports shoes and tennis balls through my school and Shea’s school, through my friends and neighbours and through Mom & Dad’s work places, as well as from local sports clubs.

My goal is to collect 100 pairs of sports shoes and 250 tennis balls. That’s 100 kids who will now be able to play sport at a Sporting Chance clinic.

Now this is where my extended family comes in……………..

I’m asking you to sponsor me an amount of your choosing for (a) every 2 pairs of shoes and (b) for every 5 tennis balls that I collect. This will be up to a maximum of 100 pairs of shoes and 250 tennis balls.

Should I raise more than my goal of R10 000 I will donate the surplus to the Sporting Chance organisation.

I will send regular updates on my progress to the family by e-mail. I will also post regular updates on our 2010 Road Trip blog which my Dad and I recently created. www.2010wallsroadtrip.blogspot.com Feel free to visit. We will be updating this blog throughout our road trip as well.

If you’re interested please reply to this mail and tell me how much you will sponsor me for (a) every 2 pairs of shoes and (b) every 5 tennis balls.

Thanks very much, I hope to see many of you over here for the World Cup next year.

Love Dylan

If anyone wishes to sponsor me in this project, please email me at jwalls@primedia.co.za