Barkly East Reporter - 27 July 2012
Polar Bear knackered, but content
One of the UTi Rhodes Trail Run participants, Guy Jennings, was instrumental in the ‘Run To Read’ challenge at the event this year.
Guy undertook to complete the run wearing a full Polar Bear outfit to raise funds to purchase books for the Rhodes Public School Zakhele. Guy’s goal was R 10 000 which would have been sufficient to donate two ‘box libraries’ to the school.
With donations from his business associates, friends and from Rhodes Run entrants Guy has almost doubled his goal and to date has collected over R 17 000.
One of the donors, herself a science and math teacher, said “What a gift – education, and reading, is a lifelong gift for someone. Making a difference - many lives will be positively affected by this gift.”
Guy, who has had a double hip replacement, suffered on race day as the muddy and slippery underfoot conditions caused huge discomfort as often he found himself almost spread-eagled in the ungainly Polar Bear suit. “The rain and snow, although very exciting, made the already heavy outfit much heavier and I was very relieved to see the finish this year. It was very hard, but worth it when I think of the excited faces of the children I met on the Friday when we handed over the third ‘box library’ to the school.”
