Thank you from Millennium Fundraising

Thank you for your generosity.

Thank you! You are amazing.

Dear donors and volunteers

On behalf of Millennium Fundraising, I would like to extend our deepest appreciation to you for your contributions, in cash and in time, to the UCT Fire Relief Fund. Thanks to you, we were able to support the following groups of people affected by the Table Mountain Fire that started on Sunday, 18 April 2021:

• 4 000 University of Cape Town (UCT) residence students
• hundreds of firefighters across Cape Town and The Western Cape through the Volunteer Wildfire Services (VWS)
• stranded animals through the Cape of Good Hope SPCA
• 26 staff members from the Rhodes Memorial Restaurant
• 20 UCT SRC members and student leaders / volunteers at the UCT Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB).

Your impactful generosity allowed us to provide these groups with the following supplies:

• 351x deodorants
• 350x snacks
• 320x energy bars
• 180x toothbrushes
• 165x toothpastes
• 114x sanitary pads
• 100x masks
• 90x eye drops
• 63x energy drinks
• 54x toilet rolls
• 50x bars of soap
• 35x lotions
• 33x bottles of water
• 30x yoghurts
• 25x boxes of paracetamol
• 20x SRC and student volunteer leaders dinners

In addition to that, we were able to make the following cash donations:

• R4 000 donated to Rhodes Memorial Restuarant Staff
• R3 745.11 donated to volunteer wildfire services
• R3 745.11 donated to Cape of Good Hope SPCA

In total, through your donations, we have raised R39 417 in less than 4 days. The above supplies and cash donations came to a value of R35 171.89, leaving us with a balance of R4 245.11. This was used to purchase 50 stationery packs for Smuts and Fuller residence students from UCT who have lost their possessions in the fire.

With the fire under control and the majority of UCT students returning to their residences today, we are delighted to announce that our UCT Fire Relief Fund does not need any further donations. The speed with which we have been able to respond to the needs of students, firefighters and animal welfare has been nothing short of remarkable. This was made possible by the awe-inspiring, collaborative efforts of the general public, UCT executive management, UCT GSB, UCT student leaders and volunteers, social media pages, hotels, restaurants, corporates and NGOs. From our work on the ground, we would like to especially thank the following groups of people:

• The selfless, heroic firefighters and volunteer firefighters who risked their lives to save ours
• The UCT SRC and all volunteers at the UCT GSB
• The UCT GSB and the GSB director, Kumeshnee West, who spearheaded the collection, packaging and distribution of donations from the UCT GSB along with the SRC and student volunteers
• Gift of the Givers for feeding 4 000 UCT students for 6–7 days
• The @UCTJustKidding social media pages for their life-saving updates on social media
• Our team of 86 volunteers. I am not able to list all of your names, but you know who you are and you know the impact that you have made – thank you.

I think it is safe to say that we have all learnt a lot about ourselves in the last few days. Personally, one of the most profound lessons I have taken from this tragic event is that we have no reason to lose hope in the power of our collective humanity. With all the chaos, destruction, evil and violence we see in our world, especially in South Africa, let us not lose sight of the fact that when people are united towards a common goal, with love as the underlying force behind them, there is nothing that they cannot do.

Let us remember this as we take hold of the opportunity now to rebuild ... not just our buildings, but the fabric of our society too.

#UCTFire

Yours in Community Fundraising,

Luke Mackie

luke@millenniumfundraising.co.za | 083 388 2865

Millennium Fundraising

Cape Town

South Africa

This content has been published with little to no editorial intervention from UCT News.