Surfboard is star of show at auction fund-raiser

A community group that keeps the Noordhoek Valley clean has raised R150 000 to support its work.

Project Noordhoeked, a non-profit community project run by volunteers and residents, relies solely on donations to do its work, including cleaning roadsides, removing litter and ocean plastic from the beach and creating awareness about single-use plastic.

The money came in through an auction fund-raiser held at Cafe Roux in Noordhoek, on Saturday October 15.

Tickets sold out within two weeks, according to Karoline Hanks, an environmentalist and a member of the organisation, but people could still place a silent bid through Noordhoek Auctioneers on the night.

Guests were treated to a performance by The Masi Violin outreach programme and shown a video that paid tribute to the four-man team responsible for Project Noordhoeked's work - Edgar Phiri, William Chirwa, David Mohale and Jacob Mohale.

Comedian Nik Rabinowitz introduced each of the more than 20 lots up for auction, including paintings, photographs, experiences, wines and ceramics.

Starfish, a surfboard created for the fund-raiser by Cobus Joubert of Wawa Wooden Surfboards, was the star of the show and sold for R16 000.

The surfboard incorporated ocean plastic, invasive Port Jackson from the wetland and packaging foam.

According to Mr Joubert, Starfish was about going back to the resourcefulness of simpler times when broken things were fixed and available materials were the chosen ones.

Ms Hanks was also grateful for the organisation’s 15 new donors.

“It's all well and good making around R150 000 on auctioned items, but that money gets sucked into the salary wage bill, and we need regular donors for sustainability. It's literally like R100 a month, which makes a huge difference to us. And it's a couple of cups of coffee, which you are putting forward to a very meaningful project,” she said.

For more information on Project Noordhoeked, contact Karoline Hanks at 083 745 3060 or karabos@mweb.co.za