NorioDS I've retrieved the guitar from storage. We can arrange delivery/collection.

Sweet! Thanks @Hasie ?

Are you on Messenger? If so, drop me a message here, please:
https://www.messenger.com/t/norri

Hasie Hasie, you are the man, Beeeg up yourself!

So we got our first guitar donation 2 weeks ago! And it's time (if not overdue) to get this show on the road.

I'm going to make a WhatsApp group JUST for coordinating the charity work. (Collecting guitars, building stuff from broken guitars, repairing guitars, delivering fixed/donated guitars to communities, etc.)

Who's in?

For the time being, it'll be Pretoria / Joburg focused until we get more momentum in other key areas. But anyone can join. Just don't get annoyed at us if it's all just Vaalie-stuff to begin with ?

Longer-term, I'll probably splinter off the charity groups so the CT guys can coordinate and so on.

WhatsApp me if you can start contributing now and want to join the group: o82 56 77 93o

(If you want to contribute once-off (like donating a guitar) but you don't want to join the group, that's fine too. Just tell me or leave the group once you've done your bit. Every bit helps.)

Update on charity project:

Wifey is (right now) picking up the almost-new guitar donated by @Hasie! Thank you!

Next we're going to see where to donate it. Anyone keen to follow and also help us decide on where to donate... join the dedicated group here.

Not much progress here. Got there guitar. Waiting for someone at Buskaid to reply to my email.

Anyone got some office-hours time to call them?

Also, huge thanks to @klaasvakie for donating his R100 winnings from the "Save the Forum" competition.

Current GuitarTalk Charity Bounty:

1. Yamaha Classical guitar in mint condition. Thanks to @Hasie
2. R100 donation from @klaasvakie. Hopefully will go towards buying another guitar to donate or towards parts in refurbishing a guitar given for donation.

I could do with a bit of help in the admin department of running this. Let me know if you have the time and you're keen. Mostly it would mean phoning people and organising pick-ups and dropoffs.

Thanks again @Hasie! Great donation ?

Epic @Hasie and @klaasvakie - both be legends! ?

@klaasvakie won the recent space challenge and once again is donating his winnings here!

Thanks @klaasvakie!

And in other news... I don't have any help with contacting the charities which makes me feel uncomfortable coz I'm holding onto the donations in the meanwhile. They're gathering dust when they could be getting some use.

So if anyone has a few minutes to spare a week to phone a charity (or 2), that would be EPIC! Thanks in advance ?

NorioDS So if anyone has a few minutes to spare a week to phone a charity (or 2), that would be EPIC! Thanks in advance ?

I can try calling them after 4 in the afternoon. I'm traveling for business again this week, so it may not be possible to do it this week.

Another well-earned win by @klaasvakie on the latest (GIL-more) challenge!

And thank you for adding your R50 winnings to the charity pot. We now have:

• A classical guitar
• An acoustic amp
• R150

The guitar and amp will be making their way to Joburg this weekend. (I know, slow moving! But we're moving.) And I'm going to ask Buskaid for their EFT details for the donation.

I'm excited to make our first donation! Thanks to you guys for contributing. It means a lot to the struggling (future) musicians we'll be helping with your donations.

Here's a message for you from Anne Bull from Buskaid:

(I've only included the important bits.)

We also very much appreciate that your members have made Buskaid the beneficiary of their competition winnings – thank you.

and...

With renewed thanks for your donation of your acoustic guitar.

@Hasie and @klaasvakie, you rock ? ?

And anyone wanting to donate to Buskaid directly can do that here:

Acc. Name: Buskaid
Bank: Standard Bank
Branch: Braamfontein
Branch Code: 00051001
Acc. No: 203 172 272
Type: Current Account

Hey @NorioDS

Thanks for the legwork here, fitting extra stuff like this in between life can be tough and you are getting it done ?

Anyway, I really can't take any credit here, my competition winnings are coming from you! So in reality it should be: @Hasie and @NorioDS, you rock !!!

klaasvakie Thanks bud, appreciate the kind words! I'll have to agree to disagree with you on the credit. You deserve props for giving up R150 of Raru fun for charity. That's pretty awesome, mate ?

Quick update on this...

First donations arrived safely at Buskaid. I'm just waiting on pics from them and I'll share those here.

And then I wanted to say a big thank you to @domhatch for donating a Yamaha nylon string. Buskaid will be collecting directly from Dom.

Any of you in Joburg who have classical guitars (or other classical instruments) to donate, let me know and I'll get Buskaid to collect direct from you. Just reply here and I'll find you. (Yeah that's not creepy at all ?)

NorioDS Good day. I have an old Yamaha acoustic guitar that I haven't played in a couple of decades. Bought it new & lightly used it for a couple of years. Would be happy to donate it. I live and work in Roodepoort. Do you also want a couple of songbooks?

Hi @sandravdm5, thanks for reaching out.

I'm in the middle of moving houses but I'll circle back to you on this in about a month.

Thanks again!