Photo: Tru-Cape
A group of growers from Ceres recently made the journey to Sutherland to support the hardest hit growers in the drought-stricken Karoo.
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“We took six large trucks of grain to nearby Williston to help farmers maintain starving sheep, and then we shared 20t of food with the greater Sutherland community,” said Wilhelm De Kock, a Tru-Cape apple and pear grower and member of the Ceres Fruit Growers association.
De Kock is also a member of Patmos, an inter-church alliance, who was also involved in the project.
According to Francois Malan, Ceres Fruit Growers’ managing director, the Patmos choir sang for the Williston community while 25 000 apples, 300 packets of beetroot, 300 punnets of mushrooms, 5 000 juice boxes of Ceres Fruit Juice, four bins of pumpkins and 300 bags of potatoes from the Ceres community were shared.
“We also donated four bins of cauliflower, 400 bags of onions, four crates of spaghetti squash and 150 hampers of spices and kitchen essentials,” said De Kock.
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Growers’ family members assembled sweets and lucky-packets for the children of the Sutherland community. “We were also pleased to share 200 blankets and 100 bibles with the community,” said de Kock.
De Kock said they were already planning a follow-up donation, and were currently canvassing growers for further contributions.
Roelf Pienaar, Tru-Cape managing director, said this example of generosity towards a community in need was a reminder of humanity’s combined potential for greatness.
