Westlake Golf Club spreads cheer with Santa Shoebox project and community outreach
Westlake Golf Club hosts an annual stationery drive. Pictured are staff members with the donated stationery packs from last year’s drive.
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The final portfolio project for the year, Santa Shoeboxes, will bring Christmas cheer to the children of Westlake Golf Club staff in the first week of December.
Lynsay Minnaar, head of the social responsibility committee of Westlake Golf Club, said: "Westlake continues to show the community that we care by sharing our love - through collecting clothing for breast cancer sufferers and fire victims, running stationery drives, and showing that it’s not only about playing golf.”
Ms Minnaar and her four-member committee have run this portfolio for the past three years.
“Three years ago, the then club captain, Brendan Mackay-Leslie, created a new portfolio on the main committee to handle the Social Responsibility Portfolio,” she said.
A wall of donated can food for Mandela Month.
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Their mission, to “give hope, an anagram for helping others prosper and evolve,” has guided projects supporting both the Westlake community and club staff, including caddies.
Established in 1932 on leased land from Raapkraal farm, Westlake Golf Club began with a nine-hole course and later expanded to 18 holes, designed by Dr D.C. Murray. The club now owns the property.
Ms Minnaar said the club has continued to meet community needs over the years.
“Through sponsorship from The Crazy Store, the children of our caddies and workers have received school stationery packs for the past two years. The next stationery drive will be held in January.”
The Westlake Golf Club donated clothing to Project Flamingo in support of its breast cancer screenings and awareness initiatives.
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Other initiatives included clothing collections for fire victims and Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, when members and guests wore pink and donated to Project Flamingo.
Westlake Primary School has received “brand new” school dictionaries, atlases, and second-hand children’s books from club members, as well as eco bricks for the school’s garden project.
In Mandela Month (July), the committee built a wall of donated food cans distributed to needy families, while the club’s knitting group made beanies for Sisters Incorporated, supporting babies and young children in need, based in Kenilworth.