Otter fundraising key to NVT

PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - More than R3,5k was raised in aid of the Nature's Valley Trust (NVT) during the Otter African Trail Run last weekend, and while it's quite far short of the target, the organisation still highly values and appreciates all donations received.

Ahead of last week's Otter run, two locals - Gert van Jaarsveld and Rodey Prins - started separate BackaBuddy crowdfunding campaigns to help raise awareness of and funds for' NVT during their respective Otter runs.

Van Jaarsveld ran the challenge edition of the Otter on Thursday 6 October while Prins was in action in the main event on Saturday 8 October.

This year was the "Retto" edition of the iconic trail run, which is run from Nature's Valley to Storm's River instead of the usual Storm's River to Nature's Valley. Both of the BackaBuddy campaigns had targets set out, but the donations received didn't quite reach the mark.

However, NVT is immensely grateful for what was received. "As a non-profit organisation, NVT greatly appreciates each and every donation made towards the operations of the organisation.

"Beyond this outstanding effort of individual members of our greater community, we are also grateful for the generosity shown by each donor in any and all ways which further support NVT's Conservation and Education programmes," said Lauren Moriarty, conservation scientist and environmental education coordinator at NVT.

NVT conservation scientist Brittany Arendse with Rodney Prins.

"Donations, whether monetary or in kind, from loyal supporters are essential in supporting our programmes where grants are currently lacking," she said, explaining that organisations such as NVT still feel the after-effects of the pandemic.

"During the pandemic, many grants were rightly redirected towards Covid relief which saw many NPOs take a knock. NVT has only been able to persist due to select grant funding and the committed support of our generous donors. Your support is invaluable to us, and we commit to using funds received in the most effective and impactful way possible!"

Moriarty also urged anyone who is looking to get involved with NVT to contact the organisation via email on info@naturesvalleytrust.co.za. If you'd like to contribute to the two aforementioned BackaBuddy campaigns, they are still live on the crowdfunding platform.

You can find both crowdfunding campaigns on www.backabuddy.co.za by searching "Nature's Valley Trust". Van Jaarsveld's campaign is titled "Nature's Valley Trust/Gert/Otter" and Prins' campaign is titled "Running the Otter African Trail Run for NVT 2022".

Read more about the 2022 Otter African Trail Run as well as the tragic passing of a Challenge participant.

Gert van Jaarsveld at the start of the Challenge run.