MCC Aviation sponsored a hole at The Sunflower Fund Golf Day which was played at The Country Club of Johannesburg on Friday 30th March 2012. The day boasted some exceptional prizes including a chartered flight to Zebula Golf Estate in Limpopo for a day’s golf for four people; a craft brewery experience for eight people from Gilroy Breweries, Fossil watches and much more!
 
The Sunflower Fund would like to thank MCC Aviation for their generous donation and wonderful support. A huge thank you goes out to all the prize sponsors as well. Thank you for helping us “Share a Little, to Save a Life”.

Pedalling ‘ power’ in the form of Deon Bing from KFM and Michael Mol, SABC 3 presenter of ‘Hello Doctor’ represented The Sunflower Fund in an invitational team of celebrities at the Expo for the ABSA Cape Epic at the V & A Waterfront on Saturday, 24th March.
Six teams of cyclists pedalled on stationary cycles to entertain the supporting crowd with amazing fitness skills, prior to the start of the 2012 Cape Epic, which started on Sunday, 25th March.

Tara Casaleggio’s ice skating party to celebrate her 9th birthday, was a bright and colourful event.  Being diagnosed with cancer when you are only 3 years old can be daunting, but Tara, who is at Gene Louw school, is a survivor.  Her beautiful long blonde hair is testimony to her health. Bandanas and scrunchies were donated from The Sunflower Fund to each friend.
 
This highlights the plight of children still suffering, and the need for people to connect with The Sunflower Fund (0800 12 10 82 or www.sunflowerfund.org.za) to find out how simple is by donating only two teaspoons of blood to become a bone marrow stem cell donor.

Caroline’s Story: I had never heard of The Sunflower Fund until my father was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2008. It wasn’t until we had to go through the stressful process of trying to find my dad a stem cell donor that I even became aware of the need for stem cell donors.

When we found out that my dad needed a stem cell transplant, I thought that they would surely find a match for my dad from one of our family. We all went to be typed but none of us were a match. They searched the SABMR for a match but no matches were found. The search was then extended to beyond our borders and finally a match was found in Germany.

A man my family had never met and whose name we will never be allowed to know did one of the most selfless things a person can do and donated his stem cells to save the life of a person he had never met.

The transplant was performed in 2009 and was a success. However, in 2010 my dad relapsed and passed away. Although it was only a short time that my dad was free from Leukemia, the transplant gave my dad time. Time to see his first grandson turn One; Time to see his son married; Time to see his daughter engaged; Time to retire to Plett with his wife, a lifelong dream of his.

Read more: Caroline Krzychylkiewicz raises over R15 000 from Westcliff Tea

Joanne Wing, a Grade 11 learner, and her teacher, Linda le Roux, of CBC Parklands, spent the first 2  weeks of their 2011 Christmas holidays, making clothes and accessories for children  of the oncology ward at Red Cross Hospital who were unfortunately unable to go home at Christmas.  Baby bloomers, aprons, boxer shorts, wash kit bags, covered notebooks, and babygrows brightened the day for the children and their families.
 
Joanne organised a very successful fashion show last year, which was held on 5th November at the Arthur Murray dance studio at Tableview.   Friends from school, and children from her mother’s playschool modelled clothes made from old bandanas.  Joanne raised R10 450 from the sale of tickets and the auction of 5 clothing items.

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'Green with Envy' in Morningside hosted a charity evening for The Sunflower Fund as a prelude to their annual, highly successful three day Christmas Market. The fundraising event took place on Thursday, 8th December and despite the rain, Durbanites came out in full force to shop up a storm and support their favourite charity. The Durban Men's Choir had the guests singing along to well known Christmas carols while Santa handed out delicious Lindt chocolate. Thanks to Louise Kelly of 'Green with Envy' and the store-holders, The Sunflower Fund raised R13 000

At the Heritage Kids Crafts Day in support of The Sunflower Fund

On Saturday, 3rd December kids enjoyed the Kids Craft Day in aid of The Sunflower Fund at the Heritage Market. Candle dipping, beading, Christmas card and décor making was set up around the centre for the children to enjoy while face-painting, balloon sculpturing and a jumping castle was also provided. The Animal Menagerie with their rescued owls, puppies, kittens, tortoise, snake and goat was a huge hit. A big thank you to Heritage Market, 'Beads and Beyond', 'Yours Forever', and 'Clowns R Us' for making this fundraising event possible.

Please contact The Sunflower Fund's toll free number on 0800 12 10 82 to become a bone marrow stem cell donor before they close for the Christmas holidays on the 15th December 2011. Their offices re-open on the 9th January 2012. For more information visit www.sunflowerfund.org.za

Gorgeous clothes, delicious food and beautiful people were the buzz at Auberge Hollandaise in Durban North on Thursday, 3rd November.

Purple Orange Clothing range and fashion designer Gideon collaborated to put on a 'Glam for Good' event in support of The Sunflower Fund.

The guests arrived at the beautiful five star B&B and were treated to a gift by Decleor skincare range and sparkling wine sponsored by Distell.

After shopping at the five pop-up stores - Toni & Dee Handbags, Kist Decor, Onyx Jewellery, Liza Clifford Professional Bra Fitting Studio and Purple Orange - the ladies helped themselves to delicious sweet treats, tea and coffee, all generously donated.

While sitting around the pool deck the ladies viewed the exquisite clothing, worn by equally exquisite models who had given up their time to support The Sunflower Fund.

A total of R6500 was raised and The Sunflower Fund would like to thank Alice Leah from Mum's Mail for compering the event, Adi Yates from Purple Orange for coordinating the fashion show, Auberge Hollandaise, Decleor, Distell and fashion designer Gideon without whom the event would not be possible.

The  Cape Technikon Events’ Management students  host an event annually  which has to be assessed.   It’s their responsibility to create an event, get sponsorship, raise funds, market the event and  choose a charity to benefit from their efforts.  The team, “521 Productions”  chose the  theme “War against Cancer”. The Sunflower Fund  was the charity to benefit  from this event.

Their  highly successful  event,  a Paintball Tournament,  was held on Sunday the 13 November 2011 at  Paintball Africa and an amount of R10 000  was donated. The Sunflower Fund would like to extend a heartfelt thanks for all the students support.

Seen here: Alison Africa, Chanre Hinson, Paul Elkington, Mimi Steyn and Roxanne Boonzaaier