The combination of the South African Broadcasting Corporation and ABSA/Barclays Banks seemed to be a recipe for success.

As Rotary has a close relationship with ABSA Bank (who were the major sponsors of Rotary's Centennial Celebrations in Johannesburg in March 2005), we were invited to be one of the recipients of the goods collected in this campaign. The others were Child Welfare, SA Red Cross, World Vision and RFFA's partner in ANCHOR, HOPEworldwide Africa. .....

With the power of the SABC' media and the spread of ABSA's eight hundred branches throughout the country, the public were invited to donate food and clothing or make a cash donation in a Campaign running from 01 December (World AIDS Day) through to the end of January.

Each of the NGOs (non-governmental organizations) selected had to identify Orphans living in Child-headed households/Granny-headed households to be the recipients of what was collected.

Rotarians in all the Rotary Districts of South Africa took part and although the Campaign was put together at short notice (the first organising meeting was held in October) it was a great success.

One Thousand boxes of food and clothes were collected and over R33000.00 in cash. These were distributed to the Orphans by the NGOs during February and March

The formal handover took place on 14 July in Port Elizabeth with senior Government Ministers and Departmental officials present as well as representatives of all the participating organisations. ABSA handed over a cheque for R100,000.00 for the Orphans.

RFFA and Rotary received considerable media coverage on Television, Radio and in the press.

ABSA and the NGOs have started planning for the 2006 Campaign which promises to be more exciting and to generate greater returns.