Leading black empowered ICT distributor, Pinnacle Micro, raised R100 000 at its charity golf day, held on 5 September at the Centurion Country Club and Golf Estate. The R100 000 was handed over to the Berg-en-Dal Pregnancy Crisis Centre.
The centre has been in operation since 1958 and provides a programme to help empower, and support, pregnant, unmarried women from the ages of 12-35 during the crisis periods of their lives. In doing so, it also helps to secure a better future for the unborn babies.
Riaan Venter, chairman of support group, the Adoptive Parents Action Committee, said he was "stunned" by the amount of money raised. "This is really tremendous. The centre is truly a worthy cause and is always in dire need of funding. At any given time there are 10 girls being housed at the centre. From April 2006 to March 2007 a total of 35 women and girls were accommodated, and 140 received counselling at the Berg-en-Dal Pregnancy Crisis Centre." He said that during this period a number of schoolgirls were assisted by the centre.
"Running costs are fairly high," said Venter. "It costs the centre about R2 850 per month, per person."
Arnold Fourie, CEO of Pinnacle Micro, presented Venter with the cheque at an awards ceremony held in the evening, which was attended by Pinnacle Micro partners, vendors, customers and the press.
Fourie said the success of the golf day was thanks to a number of corporates "putting their money where their mouths are".
He said Pinnacle Micro, as one of South Africa's leading corporate companies, is committed to an extensive social responsibility programme - a programme it believes goes a long way towards benefiting various sectors of the community, including children and the disadvantaged.
"Our social responsibility programme is run, and monitored, at executive level - so it forms one of the bed-rocks of the company's day-to-day activities. As a major supplier to the government, we feel this is part of our way to give back to the community - and to the country as a whole. If more corporates in South Africa placed more focus on their social responsibilities - and not just talk about the notion - a lot more people in need would benefit. This upliftment could have a marked impact on the country's social and economic fabric."
A number of companies provided sponsorships, including sponsoring some of the holes. The companies contributing towards the fund-raising efforts included CEOS Technologies, John Bak, Pro Networks, Eclipse Networks, Neo Technologies, Xon, Brotek, Precon Construction Hlanganani, GijimaAst, Intel, Canon SA, Canoa, Lexmark, D-Link, Spectralogic, Apacer, Microsoft, Absa, Symantec, Proline, LG and MSI - as well as group companies RentNet and Workgroup.
Fourie also indicated that Pinnacle Micro is likely to host an annual golf charity event after the success of the Berg-en-Dal Golf Charity Day. "We don't yet know which charities we will be supporting, but I think this is likely to be part of the company's annual calendar," he said.
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