More than R100 000 was raised for charity at the recent annual golf day of the Air Cargo Operator’s Committee (ACOC).
A long-standing event and widely agreed highlight on the airfreight community’s social calendar, September’s ACOC Golf Day had 45 four balls and 22 sponsored activity holes, said event organizer, Hayley van Rooyen.
“It built on what we have accomplished in the past and with the amount of interest shown we could have easily taken it to 90 four balls,” she said.
However, Benoni Country Club has indicated that, given the amount of people the golf day attracts, capacity is already at its limits.
“The commitment to care from our industry is simply outstanding,” said Van Rooyen.
“It’s booked out months in advance by airlines, freight forwarders, ground handlers and ACOC members. When there’s space available, we include freight agents, suppliers, service providers and our other industry stakeholders.
“It’s the last big event for the airfreight sector where everyone can take a break and prepare themselves for the busy year-end period lying ahead.”
Whereas the ACOC Golf Day focused on one main charity in the past, there were two this year – HEAL (Healing and Educating Addicted Lives), and the Highveld Horse Care Unit (HHCU).
Van Rooyen said the lion’s share of the funds raised would be shared between HEAL and the HHCU.
“For HEAL it goes towards helping people get through the challenges of addiction, and with Highveld Horse it’s mainly about helping horses and their owners in the townships.
“The owners of horses are educated, they’re helped to buy tack and so forth, and on the night itself ‘honkeys’ (stuffed horse-donkey toys), made by the wives of township horse owners, were sold to raise additional funds.”
Van Rooyen said four other charities were also included, bringing the total donated amount to R145 000.
