January 2009 Newsletter

Welcome to the 1st official Theo Jackson Scholarship Fund newsletter for 2009 !!

Since my last email in September, the world seems to have been plunged into financial turmoil with job cuts and falling economies dominating the headlines. Fortunately, due to your continued support and generosity, the Scholarship Fund managed to continue bucking this global and national trend and 2008 was an extremely successful year which saw the Fund go from strength to strength.

As the Theo Jackson Scholarship Fund enters it's fourth year of existence we are now sponsoring 13 boys, up from just 7 a year ago !!

To be able to give so many young boys the gift of a quality education and the opportunity of a real chance in life is a great blessing of which it is an honour to be a part. Your generosity continues to overwhelm us and many of you will never know the huge difference you are playing in the lives of these boys.

The highlights of 2008, updates of key areas and progress made by the boys whose lives you continue to help shape, are detailed below.

Thank you for your ongoing support and please send us your feedback - we'd love to hear from you !!

Kind regards,

Dale and Craig


2009 New Scholarships

In 2008 we have been able to offer our largest number of new scholarships to date with six boys being awarded full boarding and school fee scholarships at an annual cost of almost R40,000 per boy.

Even more exciting is that the majority of these Scholarships have been sponsored by individuals and companies not previously involved with the Scholarship Fund.

2009 recipients are:

* Jabulani Hadebe - Individually sponsored by Anglovaal Industries
* Dillen Olivier - Individually sponsored by Trevor van Staden
* Tumi Matsoba - Individually sponsored by Tony Brown
* Dane Davis

Please click here to learn more about these young men and view their moving letters of thanks to you all.

In addition to the above, Toga Laboratories and the Jeppe Quondam Athletics Section have also recently committed themselves to each sponsoring a boy for the duration of their schooling and we are in the process of finalising these candidates.

Applications for scholarships for boys beginning Grade 8 in 2010 are now open and can be obtained by clicking here.


Progress on other scholarship recipients:

The other seven existing scholarship recipients all had, in their own respective ways, successful 2008's.

Whether this was running, and winning, various athletics and cross country events (Donald Mokoena), being voted best U14 hockey player (Tyler Campbell-Gibson), taking away the best actor award in the house plays (Colin Khuthe) or simply continuing to participate to their best ability in all aspects of life at Jeppe, all of the boys did the Scholarship Fund proud and their letters of thanks can be viewed on their individual profiles on the website.


Website Expansion

The Theo Jackson Scholarship Fund website www.theojacksonfund.org.za launched in September 2008 continues to expand and is often kept updated with the latest letters from the boys, photos, events and media snippets - feel free to check it out and send us any suggestions for development and improvement.

An exciting website addition planned for February is the development of an on-line secure donation facility which will allow interested parties to donate funds on-line. This was in response to a number of requests from people outside of South Africa who wished to make donations but who could, up to now, not do so.


Fundraising Events

The spinathon held on 25th October 2008 at Old Eds Virgin Active was a huge success and raised in excess of R35,000. As a result, it is our intention to make this an annual event.

In 2009, the 3rd Annual Theo Jackson Scholarship Fund Golf Day is being held, once again, at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington golf club on Tuesday 24th March.

Although the field is almost already sold out we are in need of both prizes and hole sponsorships. If anyone is able to assist in this regard, or should you wish to play (we will endeavour to accomodate you if possible) , please email dale@kaelo.co.za.

If you are not a golfer but wish to meet the 13 boys whom we sponsor, please feel free to email Dale to book your free place at the evening's dinner / prizegiving.

Lastly, should you not be able to play on the 24th March but still wish to be involved in supporting the fund, the Jeppe Quandom Athletics Section are having their golf day on Friday 20th March at the same venue with all proceeds from the day also going directly towards the Theo Jackson Scholarship Fund. Please contact Barry Holland on 083-2520691 or hprint@mweb.co.za should you wish to play in the Jeppe Athletics Section Golf Day.


Financial Status

Fortunately the financial status of the Scholarship Fund is extremely healthy.

In December 2008 there was in excess of R660,000 in the bank account of the Fund and although school and hostel fees of the 13 boys still needed to be paid therefrom, the majority of these costs are covered by the ten individual sponsorships, the payment for which will be received in early 2009.

To date 100% of contributions continue to have been spent on the boys with nothing being spent on administration, running costs or management fees. Detailed accounts are available for audit if required.

Should you wish to receive a donations tax certificate for any donations made in the 2009 tax year, please email dale@kaleo.co.za


Growth of Database

This email is now being distrubuted to almost 400 individuals and companies who are either, directly or indirectly, financially supporting the Scholarship Fund or who we believe may be interested in being kept up to date on developments at either Jeppe as a whole or the Theo Jackson Scholarship Fund itself.

Please feel free to forward this email to anyone whom you think may be interested and wishes to be added onto the database.

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