Raffle helps students lend a hand

Happy times: Neill Brien (holding up the winning tickets), Karen Le Jeune, Tracey Morris, Brendon Jacobs, Collin Norman, Mark Massyn, Julius Baloyi, and Jennifer Heburn celebrate the draw raffle organised by the Association of Built Environment Students.

A raffle has helped first-year students in the Department of Construction Economics and Management raise funds towards their participation in a community-based housing project.

As part of their course, the first years are each required to raise R500 to participate in a week-long housing development project hosted by the Niall Mellon Township Trust. Students lend a helping hand in the project, which build homes in disadvantaged communities.

Historically, students have had to raise this money on their own steam.

"We found this troublesome as some students battled to come up with the money," explained Brendon Jacobs, chairperson of the Association of Built Environment Students 2010, the raffle organisers.

In response, the association ran a raffle with some generous prizes. The first prize was a dinner for four on a sunset cruise at the V&A Waterfront; the second prize a dinner for two at the restaurant in Camps Bay; and the third prize was a R1 000 shopping voucher for Cavendish Square in Claremont. Student Neill Brien sold the most tickets, and this earned him the best-seller prize, another R 1 000 shopping voucher. Brien cleverly asked his fiancé, who works at a financial investment company, to sell tickets on his behalf.