CHOC Cow's 2017 #1 (the real #1)

Well I can hardly believe I've made it to June without doing a post, so please excuse me for this being on the long side. Unfortunately the season has brought with it the usual bugs so I've been off the bike for a little while.

If you've had your head in a hole (or maybe you are just new to my list) by now you know that for the last 4 years I've been raising funds for CHOC by riding events in cow kit and the last 2 years in a cow suit. And so this being my 5th year and the 10th Anniversary of The Cows I hope to be doing the same again and have yet again set my target at R20,000. So far the fund is sitting at R2k and some odds in my cans. Thanks again to those who help me achieve the goal every year.

Without wanting to bore you too much but also give info (and I know many are well aware of what CHOC does) I thought I'd just briefly list some of the things CHOC does for children with cancer.

• CHOC houses: 
• Provide housing for children and family coming from far away to the treatment centers.
• There are 13 houses around the country each costing approximately 500,000 per year and providing just over 66,000 bed nights per year.
• Transport Fund:
• A transport fund ensures that no child need go without treatment due to transport costs.
• Ward comforts:
• CHOC assists in maintaining the treatment centers as child friendly environments, decorating the wards and providing toys.
• It is also important that parents be on hand to support their children through treatment and so kitchen and laundry facilities are provided as well as comfortable areas where they can relax and meet with other parents.
• Medical facilities improvement:
• Provision and improvements to wards in Chris Hani Baragwanath, Dora Nginza (Port Elizabeth) and Charlotte Maxeke Hospital (Johannesburg) have been supported by funds raised through CHOC
• Medical Staff support:
• On occasion where the need has arisen CHOC has provided funding for staff provision.
• In order to reduce the load on medical staff CHOC provides volunteers for administrative and logistical support.
• CHOC also provides funding for training and conferences for the staff which enables growth of knowledge and networking oppurtunities.
• Awareness and early detection:
• Parts of the healthcare system have a lack of awareness of early warning signs and CHOC initiated an awareness program to provide information to workers to primary health clinics and secondary hospitals and also to parents and teachers especially those in rural areas.

There is so much more that they do for more details visit their web page at http://www.choc.org.za/choc-circle-of-care.html

The Cows provide some of the funding for these projects by participating at athletic events, and various other projects. This is the tenth year anniversary of The Cows and we have set a monumental target of 10 Million Rand to raise for 2017.

I recently rode in a 6hr endurance race to assist raising funds for Delta Park school which caters for children from Grade R to 12 that have barriers to learning in mainstream schools, and was awarded the principals prize for riding the day in the Cow suit. Riding in a team of 3, I managed to complete 5 of the 6.2Km laps the last of which ended up being in a single gear that was a bit on the tough side. Team total of 13 laps.

So...... hopefully I will be back to pedaling in a few days and will again be spending most of July "Riding every day of Tour de France in a Cow Suit" this will include the "Rest days". I won't be riding the same distances as the racers or doing anywhere near as much climbing, but one way or another I will don the cow suit every day and do a ride, some will be indoors and some outdoors. If you fancy giving me a little extra incentive by donating for the number of Km's rode or the number of meters climbed I would welcome it, just let me know.

For those in the West Rand watch out for me on the road and give me a wave, yell or hoot but more importantly please give.

This year The Cows will be supporting various projects for CHOC read more at http://www.thecows.co.za/projects

If you got this far well done I hope to bring more news after TDF.

How can you give:

• Through my GivenGain Profile: https://www.givengain.com/ap/JermTheCow2017/ 
• Use my Snapscan QR Code: 
  
• EFT direct to The Cows :
  Bank: Standard Bank
  
  Branch: Killarney
  Branch code: 007 205
  Account name: CHOC Cows
  Account number: 203 710 843
  Account type: Savings account
  Reference: Jeremy Pointer
• In my Cans: If you want to pass me some cash to stick in my cans I will happily do so we take any change big or small from 5c to R200 bits of change ;-) It will all go through the slot.

For those that would like to claim their tax deduction for charitable giving, you can request the required Section 18A certificate by emailing daisy@thecows.co.za for the form to complete.