Zimbabwe Ski Team - Official Website

2005 Fundraising

Money raised at the 2005 ZST Gala Ball was given to two charities:

St Francis Home
S.O.A.P (Save our Old Age Pensioners)

The following correspondence was received in response to our fundraising...

St Francis Home

Dear Zimbabwe Ski Team Members,

The St Francis home was established over sixty years ago to support orphaned children and children with mental and or physical disabilities. As such the home has needed the skills of trained professionals such as doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, speech therapists, etc. Whilst being a privately run organisation it is open to all people as it charges no fees. There are inevitably high running costs and whilst the home does utilise a trust fund established for it and donations, we do struggle at times to meets our expenses.

As you may be aware, Zimbabwe is in an awful state of affairs presently and the signs for the future are not optimistic. In addition many of the trained professional staff who worked at the home have since left our borders for greener pastures and many of the people who now work at the home are under resourced, under trained and work for very little pay. Without them though and the kind monetary assistance we receive from organisations such as yourselves, we would certainly have to close our doors. This is obviously not what we want to do, as the children would be the one's to ultimately suffer the most.

Again we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to you all and look forward to your continued support. May God Bless you all and keep you safe.

Yours sincerely,

Emma Blake
Member Board of Governors

S.O.A.P (Save our Old Age Pensioners)

TO: THE ZIMBABWE SKI TEAM

SOAP has its humble beginnings as an idea amongst a few generous people from the Bulawayo community to assist the elderly who were unduly suffering as a direct result of the drastic economic decline in the country in the late 90's and early 00's. At first people were simply asked to contribute what they could from their own personal wealth. Whilst this process did bring some relief it was never going to be a solution and so it was decided to set up SOAP and run it more professionally. A golf tournament was held in early 2001 with all proceeds going towards SOAP. The event was a resounding success and is now held annually. There are other functions, raffles, etc also held in support of SOAP but the number of people able to help is dwindling fast as the economy continues to collapse further.

At present the monies raised are split amongst the several elderly homes and communities in the region (Coronation Cottages and Garden Park to name a couple) with the most needy given priority. This may sound hard to believe, but many of the pensions being earned today are barely enough to buy a loaf of bread. Hence you can imagine the plight of the elderly. SOAP receive no government funding and indeed has no dealings whatsoever with them. All monies are received from the general public and the private sector.

The money received from last year's ZST Charity Ball was greatly appreciated and went a considerable way in assisting our pensioners. We wish all those involved and associated with the Zimbabwe Ski Team all the very best and wish to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

God Bless

Tony Osbourne
Chairman: SOAP