Dear Parkview and Greenside East Residents and friends,
 
Day 84 and not only is winter upon us, but we have experiencing some really unusual rainfall. 
 
Please take the time to read our latest Parkview Community news.  It’s taking on a bit of a different look and feel, and we hope you find it interesting and informative.  
 
THANK YOU TO OUR COMMUNITY
It is only fitting to start by thanking our amazing community for everything that you have done and or donated over the last few weeks.  It’s been 3 weeks since the last newsletter and since then we have fed over 1000 people and accomplished a great deal more thanks to you:

• We have issued another 77 food vouchers that will feed 308 people for another two weeks.
• We have purchased, packed and distributed another 150 food packs.  30 packs have gone to our local community and another 120 to Ward 87 for Councillor Bridget Steer to distribute to families needing food in our ward. That amounts to food for 700 people for 2 weeks.
• We have given Inner-city CAN R22 500 that amounted to 90 vouchers feeding 360 people for 2 weeks.  
• We have helped raise money to pay for not only the containers for the wonderful people in our area feeding the displaced people, but also enough to purchase reusable bowls.
• We have sent a truck load of arts and crafts items to MES.  Much needed items to help keep the many people they have housed in their shelters occupied and creative.
• We have sent another carload of warm winter clothes and some toys off to Jeppe Park Primary Streetlight School.  Thank you so much to Bev Schultz for initiating this collection and taking everything through to Streetlight.
• We managed to send 8 large bags of toiletries off to MES, once again for the homeless people currently in their shelters.
• The community have helped supply books to two inner-city charities who are setting up libraries.  
• And thanks to you, we have raised enough money and sponsored lunches to keep our street cleaning team busy for the next 8 weeks.  Special thanks to Ken McArthur for working alongside the Street Cleaning team and managing the project for us.  

We continue to be so blown away by your compassion and generosity as a community.  Thank you so much for all you have given and continue to pour out.  This lovely quote by Shoghi Effendi comes to mind:  
 

For what pleasure can compare the pleasure of bringing joy and hope to other hearts.  The more we make others happy, the greater will be our own happiness
and the deeper our sense of having serviced humanity.

 
Our hope is to keep all our food drives going throughout winter and possibly throughout August as well. If you would like to contribute towards this, please see the attached Food Drive flyer.
 
 
UP-AND-COMING PRA COLLECTIONS

Two of our collections closed on Monday (due to the public holiday on Tuesday), namely the vitamins for Parkcare and our final collection for MES including toilet paper and sanitisers. We would really love to get more vitamins for Parkcare, since this is important for the health of our elderly folk, especially during COVID-19, so we have decided to extend this collection indefinitely.  Please note that you don’t have to purchase the vitamins from Tyrone Pharmacy.  You can bring any vitamins to the Pharmacy and include them in the collection.  They do however have stock of good quality vitamins for around R50 if you wish to purchase those.  If you would like to contribute, but don’t want to have to go into the pharmacy, please email info@parkview.org.za to make an alternative arrangement.
 
We launched two new collections yesterday. The first is at Postnet.  We are collecting books for inner-city CAN.   The second at Tyrone Fruiterers, for sandwich items to help feed the homeless. 

COMMUNITY POLICING FORUM (CPF) SURVEY

If you have not already done so, please take the time to complete the Parkview Community Policing Forum survey. Your input is important and gives the CPF a good sense on your feelings towards crime and your personal safety.  It is based on the suburbs served by the Parkview SAPS and our CPF will get some valuable insight into our specific area.  
 

WhatsApp GROUPS

Thank you!  We have seen a huge improvement in the number of afterhours posts on the WhatsApp network groups.  We have one other appeal at this stage. We have noticed that during Covid-19 there have been quite a few explosive debates, and they always seem to fall on the weekends.  The administrators on all our groups are volunteers and have families.  They really prefer to have some down time on the weekends and not to have to keep policing the WhatsApp groups or intervening when things get out of hand.  Can we all please think before we post and be kind when we do!
 
WHATS NEW IN PARKVIEW

1 VILLAGE CENTRE NEWS
The Suckerman family are the proud new owners of the Village Centre in Parkview.  They have also taken over the management of the laundry that is now known as ‘The Village Laundry’.  A big thank you from us all for sponsoring the laundering of our Street Cleaning teams overalls.  We are told that the laundry is being upgraded and not only offers you laundry services and off-site dry cleaning, but also doing onsite tailoring.
 
They have told us about some lovely ideas for the centre including some exciting ‘Pop Up Stores’ and hosting Charity Events etc.  Please feel free to contact them if you have any exciting ideas to share or if you would be interested in renting a space from them.  Contact Melanie on 078 801 3444.  
Sadly, Ira the hairdresser, is no longer in the centre. 

2 LOCKDOWN VIRTUAL TOUR: ‘the best suburb in Joburg’.
We are sure you have seen the posters up in our suburb and were wondering what the virtual tour is all about.  A few Parkview residents in the media business have put together an amazing free lockdown audio tour of what they call ‘the best suburb in Joburg’.  Well, we couldn’t agree more!
 
The tour is delivered via a free app called N3 Radio and automatically triggers stories as you walk or jog through Parkview. Or the stories can be listened to anywhere in the world. To get the Parkview lockdown virtual tour, simply go to your app store, search for N3 Radio and download the free App.
 
The stories include:
The Canadian scoundrel of Kilkenny Road (narrated by our very own Charles van Onselen)
The 1918 Spanish Flu in Parkview
When Parkview had the best tennis club in the country
How an Egyptian cathedral come to be in the suburb
 
One of the stories currently on the app (it will be updated with new material) is about the 1947 Royal Family visit with children at the Zoo Lake Sports Club. The attached photo is of a section of the crowd on that day. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could identify some of the local children in the pic? Perhaps some of them are still alive and living in the area.

PARKVIEW EVENTS UPDATE

Regrettably the 2020 Nicarela Charity Christmas Market, held annually at George Hay Park, will not be taking place. Please see their FB page for more info.
The PRA Exco will be deciding at our next meeting if the annual PRA Halloween Event will be taking place this year. More details to follow. 
 
WHY SHOP LOCAL
 
Shopping local supports independently owned businesses, which in turn gives us the community increased choice of what gets stocked, personalised and relationship driven service, and creates community cohesiveness. We must remember that these are the same businesses that for years have supported school fundraisers, charity events, and continue to support the NGOs in our area and now we, as a community, have the opportunity to pay it forward!

As level 3 opens up, take the time to explore the Parkview shops again and discover the awesome little gift and clothing boutiques, shoe store and children’s emporium of gifts and dress up!  We have stationery, second hand books, Cape Cottage furniture, silver jewellery, home furnishings and African art and collectables. Parkview has two pharmacies, a hardware store, a cell phone shop, a newly refurbished laundry, a greengrocer , ½ a Spar that we are eager to see transformed by its new owners, a liquor store, a garage (petrol station), doctors, dentists, an optometrist ,a clinic, a vet and ATMs.

Please support our restaurants. Although they can’t seat you, they are delivering delicious meals - Croft and Co, Trabella, Taste of Punjab, The Perfect Cup, Franco’s, Blind Tiger Café and The Foyer Coffee Shop. Please also consider buying vouchers support to businesses that are unable to open at all at the moment: The Mask, The Salon, N’eThing Goes Hair Salon, Noise Dance Studio, Studio 1 Pilates, Club Travel Parkview.

Finally we ask for your co-operation and patience in this difficult and strange new environment we find ourselves in.  We ask you to please sanitise your hands and wear a mask at all times.  You may be asked to wait in a queue or need to have your temperature taken. Every shop owner is working really hard at a huge expense to themselves to keep you, themselves and our environment safe. They make mistakes, but in true Parkview Spirit, we ask that instead of calling them out on social media, take the time to let the owner know, and we know they will do their best to rectify the problem. We are in this together as a community.  Let’s do our best to be patient and kind to one another.
 
For those who think we are taking Covid too seriously and that “people die every day anyway”, Covid is now the leading cause of death in 2020. And it is still getting worse. This is a serious disease. We can protect ourselves from it by taking simple precautions. It’s not unreasonable to do so. We are seeing a rapid increase in positive cases in Johannesburg.  Now is not the time to start relaxing, but to be more vigilant than ever.  Please remember to keep a physical distance, wear masks, wash hands, temperature check, quarantine if you test positive, contact trace as much as possible if you do. Limit your geographic footprint, and number of people you contact. That’s it. Let’s do all these things diligently.
 
Special thanks to Kelly Robinson from Tyrone Pharmacy for her input with this insert.  We are so grateful to Tyrone Pharmacy for their informative brochures, donations, accessibility, and for continuously helping us as a community.  
 

REQUEST FROM THE PRA WHEN DEALING WITH DISPLACED PEOPLE
 
Please read the attached letter from Helen Webster, who runs the PRA’s “displaced persons” subcommittee.  She has also addressed the frequently asked questions about what you should do if someone asks for food at your door.  As the PRA, we are appealing to you to please rather use the official feeding schemes if you would like to help. This ensures displaced persons in our area are taken care of, and avoids any scammers trying to take advantage of your generosity. The PRA Food Drive leaflet is attached.
 
SAFETY & SECURITY 

We have seen an increase in crime in our area over the last few weeks.  
 
A big thank you to SafeParkview for swiftly dealing with all the crime related issues we have experience lately.  We continue to appeal to our community to join SafeParkview if you have not already done so. The more SafeParkview members we have, the more funds we have available to increase service delivery.

REPEAT: CAG CAN HELP YOU

Please do not hesitate to contact our Community Assistance Group if you need help getting shopping done or need to be taken to an appointment. Should you need assistance please email info@parkview.org.za or SMS 083 268 4441.

In closing

We celebrated Youth Day this week and we take the time to remember this celebration of youth, power and unity. As the mother of 3 teens, I qualify to quote from J K Rowling who wrote in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 

‘We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.’

 
We have seen first handed how our community has united and accomplished incredible things during Covid-19.  This newsletter and endless WhatsApp and Facebook posts are testament to all that’s been done.  Let’s continue to draw together and do great things and not to grow weary in doing good.
 
Stay warm, stay home and stay healthy
Caryl

Caryl Kelly
Marketing & Communication
info@parkview.org.za
083 268 4441 (office hours only)

PRA fees
 
Thank you to all who have already paid their PRA fees for 2020, your payments are much appreciated.  If you’ve forgotten to pay, the banking details are:

Parkview Residents Association
First National Bank, Rosebank (253305)
Current Account - 50332119813
Reference: Member Fees "your name"

Special thanks to Ryan James for most of the photographs in this Newsletter.  
Please call James on 082 464 2810 for Photography or Videography