Alexander Forbes employees cycle the Tour de France route to raise Funds for charities

A group of employees from Alexander Forbes recently cycled the Alpine stages of the world famous route of the Tour de France to raise money for local charities. In 8 days of cycling they conquered some of the mightiest mountains in the cycling world, including Mont Ventoux the Beast of Provence where Tom Simpson died in 1967, Col du Galibier the highest point on the Tour de France route and the iconic Alp DHuez.

Christo Geyer, an employee of Alexander Forbes Financial Services was joined by his colleagues Kevin Prinsloo, Craigh Chidrawi, Andre Less and Eugene Wait in this voyage to raise the funds. With sore muscles and aching bodies, the group managed to raise R78 750 000 from friends, colleagues, business partners and corporates who had agreed to sponsor their efforts. They then challenged the Alexander Forbes Community Trust to match their efforts, who obliged - thus raising a total of R157,000.

Three charities, the Alexander Childrens Haven, the Mapetla Day Care Centre and the Katlehong Old Age Home will each receive R50 000 from this effort. All these organisations have been beneficiaries of the Alexander Forbes Community Trust for the past three years. They receive annual funding to take care of the day-to-day operations.

The Alexandra Childrens Haven and the Mapetla Day Care Centre both look after children whose families are ravaged by HIV/AIDS. The centres provide breakfast and lunch for children whose families cannot afford to do so. They also engage the children in extramural activities and help them with their homework.

Donray Malabie, from the trust said Alexander Forbes was really proud of the involvement of its employees in supporting community projects.

Our efforts to inculcate a culture of volunteering in the company is paying off, he said. In the past our staff has gone out to do things like renovating a panel -beating workshop in Soweto. Last year one division of the company made repairs at the Mapetla Day Care Centre and another spent a day with the children at the Alexandra Haven, renovations of Katlehong Old Age Home, the list is endless. These, he added were indications that our staff do take community development seriously.

Christo Geyer, said it was both a personal dream to do this and the fact that the effort raised money was the cherry on top.

We are very proud that our efforts will touch the lives of the needy, said Geyer. South Africa is a country with numerous challenges, the aged and children are mostly at the short end of the stick and we are delighted to be able to make a contribution to help alleviate some of the problems, he said.

Portia Mongake who manages the Alexandra Childrens Haven said the funding was a welcome surprise as they have started to take on more children. Currently the haven looks after 300 children.

We are truly happy and feel blessed that the Alexander Forbes Community Trust continues to support our efforts in making sure that the children in our midst stay in school and continue to get an education, she said.

Ella Danilowitz from the Mapetla Day Care Centre said they would now be able to extend their services to an enlarged group of children.

We have constantly turned away needy children as we could not afford to take care of them, this will help us accommodate more children in our centre, she said.

The Katlehong Old Age Home has just had its premises refurbished by the trust. The homes manager, Nono Maja said the funding will help them make the home a pleasant place for their senior citizens.

We are grateful that it is not only the trust that has taken the efforts to help us but that employees at Alexander Forbes have taken the time to pitch in as well she said.