Brain Freeze

In the spirit of today….

OPERATION SNOWBALL.

Firstly, could these lovely people upload a website that I could easily track down. Maybe one of you IT blogging guys want to donate yours skills and time to them & set one up. I’m a new age kid. If it ain’t on the web…it’s like a tree falling in a human-less forest.

Except that these guys have been doing such incredible work for decades, that I am well aware of their existence and so have done some mild web trawling for their info. Only mild as, after all, according to Bullard, I am a blogger, not a journo.

I digress... back to the people who currently are gathering icicles in their eyebrows, beards and gradually having their entire selves freeze up as South Africa experiences some of the coldest weather felt here in the past 52 years.

Which is why we are grateful to such initiatives like Operation Snowball….

Operation Snowball was set up in 1964 by the Rand Daily Mail newspaper, in association with the Martha Washington Club. When the Mail closed down in the mid-1980s the Star took over.

Every winter Operation Snowball, which depends on donations from businesses and people, provides blankets, clothes and food to those in need.

The Star still runs Ops Snowball, in conjunction with Planet Fitness. Well, they have for the past few years. I can’t seem to quickly & easily track down info about this year’s run.

From what I am recalling & rereading, you could donate clothes and blankets at various Planet Fitness centres and The Star office. It can’t have changed too much?

So…Get knitting. Get Mr Price/ Ackerman/ Pick’nPay purchasing. Get cupboard-overhauling. And then get down to such places with these prized possessions of blankets, beanies, jerseys, gloves, tins of soup and more.

Highveld Radio also started a similar initiative last year, in conjunction with Outsurance. This is lead by their Ground Patrol team. I can’t say that I am an avid listener of the show so I am not sure what this year’s plans are. Anyone know?

All in all, my web trawling skills seem to be useless this morning – brain freeze – so anyone who is passing this blog and knows more about these two initiatives, or about similar initiatives, please let us know! Thanks!

And here’s me wishing you a cuppa hot chocolate right now. I’m off to snuggle in the back seat of my car with the heater on to 30 degrees, a thermos of (alcohol-free) brandy & coffee. Or at least I will start dreaming of this once my imagination has thawed out.

Other charities I have come across during this web trawl that might need similar winter assistance:

*A list (from 2003) of organisations helping children;
*Twilight Children;
*Johannesburg Alliance for Street Children;
*Phuthaditshaba Centre for Senior Citizens in Alexandra …. Supported by NGO, maAfrika Tikkun. Tikkun’s donated offices are in Hyde Park so very easy for some of you to get to with donations;
*Greater Good SA - search their site overall, but especially go to the tab - What Are You Good For.