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Forest Town Bus Project Forest Town Bus 2009
Forest Town Bus Project Forest Town Bus 2009
| Forest Town Bus 2009 |
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Over the last 12 months we have had some wonderful hand-overs of major projects .... First the Refilwe Community Centre and the subsequent furniture and equipment there, then the borehole at Itsotseng, and on Friday 13th - lucky for many children - the school bus for the Forest Town School for the Handicapped...... and what a day it was, filled with emotion, gratitude and joy! The square inside the school grounds was filled with all the kids, the staff, the trustees, the Rotarians, and the press. Everyone was waiting quietly for the proceeding to commence and, as the headmaster was saying something to the assembly, his words were drowned by cheering equal to that when SA won the World Cup at Ellis Park because, coming around the corner was the new bus being led in by the Forest Town Bus Project champion Erich Springer. As soon as the bus was parked, the school choir burst into song singing "where did this beautiful bus come from?" After everyone inspected the bus, specially equipped with a lift for wheelchairs, the ceremony continued in the school hall. The assembly was addressed by the various dignitaries and then Erich Springer outlined how he had first been dispatched by the Rotary Club's Community Committee to see if there was something we could do for the Forest Town School. Erich soon identified that, as the fleet of busses that collected the kids from all over the greater Johannesburg was old and in need of major repair and replacement, that a new bus was what we should aim for. Initially it may have been considered as over-ambitious but Erich rose to the challenge and committed himself to this goal. During the second half of 2007 we sold tickets for a raffle of a bedroom suite donated by Hartman+Kepler (this was won by  Di Kershaw and Erich guaranteed there was no hanky-panky), and this was followed by donations by various individuals and companies, Erich's 70th birthday for which he wanted no presents ---- only donations to this project, contributions from at least four European Rotary Clubs, and finally a substantial matching grant that was orchestrated by Dudley Schnetler. Eventually the total sum of R900 000 was reached and there it was! The bus, manufactured by Busmark 2000 has been modified with a wheelchair lift, special seating and seatbelts, to accommodate the special needs of the children. The school principal Lloyd Jackson said at the handover that he was especially grateful for the assistance of Rotary and others in purchasing a new bus. "It is an uphill battle to maintain the school; we are increasingly asked to accommodate more children, and the State funding is inadequate to cater for the special requirements of the children. It is through the generous assistance of organisations such as Rotary that we manage to keep operating"  In Rotary it is said that every project needs a champion and, looking back at our major recent projects, each one had a champion. In this case the champion was Erich Springer who almost single-handedly planned, raised the money, and negotiated the price and design of the bus. Before handing over the keys to the bus to headmaster Lloyd Jackson, Erich called up everyone who had contributed to the bus for a BIG HUG. Once the choir had entertained us (the song was Thank You Rotary, Thank You Rotary, Thank You Rotary) all adjourned to the Coffee Shop for a finger lunch. Once again we had the honour of celebrating Rotary and celebrating humanity. Viva Rotary! Just one thing remains and that is to hold back the payment to the sign-writer ...... Where to from here? Maybe we have friends who'd love to contribute to another bus?
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FOREST TOWN BUS HANDOVER - 2009 March
