De Hoop Collection and the annual Merrell Whale of Trail Run joined forces in 2024 to raise funds for the building of a playground extension at Ouplaas EK Primary School situated on the Ouplaas farm, a few kilometres from De Hoop Collection.
The funds raised for this initiative form part of their community responsibility programmes to assist youngsters to exercise and keep fit.
William Stephens of De Hoop Collection and Graham Bird of Mountain Runner Events and organiser of the Merrell Whale of Trail Run, expressed their delight at the success of the fundraising drive for the Ouplaas EK Primary School, with the funds raised far exceeding everyone’s expectations.
Bird elaborated on the beginnings of the on-going initiative. “As we organise the annual Merrell Whale of Trail event we began a few years back, by asking the runners to bring ‘stuff’ for the school – stationery, blankets, clothing etc. Then in 2023 we fundraised for school bags for all the learners; and this past year we appealed to participants to donate funds to build an educational playground at the school. Our target was based on the original moderate request from the school, but with contributions coming from runners, De Hoop Collection and three personal significant contributions, the total achieved far exceeded the original target.”
Stephens said, “We were delighted to join forces once again with Graham on this very necessary and worthwhile fundraising initiative. The Ouplaas EK Primary School, with classes from Grade R to Grade 7, educates primarily the children of farmworkers from the farms surrounding De Hoop Nature Reserve and as Hendrik Arendse, General Manager of De Hoop Collection was, quite a long time back, a pupil at Ouplaas Primary, the school holds a special place in our hearts.”
Marlene Kloppers, a teacher at Ouplaas EK Primary School expressed her gratitude: “Ouplaas EK Primary is a “no-fees” school and while we do receive a grant from the Western Cape Education Department per child to help with running costs, electricity, water usage and stationery, we do need to be ‘creative’ with fundraisers, since there is a shortfall in our budget. Fundraising events are done by the teachers and a few parents on the Governing Body, but the funds raised by this joint initiative has just gone beyond anything that we expected. We are so grateful, our sincere thanks to all the contributors.”
“The playground development is very important to us since many of our learners have barriers to learning. These barriers are usually perceptual/social/motor/creative and cognitive skills shortages. Now, with the development of the playground, many of these learners will achieve more success in the classroom,” Kloppers added.
