Shelley is South African but currently lives in Shanghai, China. To describe her as motivated would be like describing Bill Gates as "having some money," a massive understatement. Shelley works with an incredible group of young South African gumboot dancers in Soweto from the Kliptown Youth Program. These boys can make a symphony out of rubber soles and a few claps thrown in for good measure.
Gumboot dancing, it's the next Zumba!
Shelley made it her priority to get these talented kids all the way from South Africa to Shanghai to perform at her dinner. Receiving sponsorship for their flights from major corporations including Coca-Cola, they were the stars of her Cocktails for a Cause dinner! It was an incredible night of live music, live auctions, "dinner date" auctions, raffle draws, lucky draws, and guest speakers. The highlight for everyone was of course the Gumboot dancing performance from the Kliptown Youth Program. They definitely made an impression as Shelley was able to raise over $9,000(USD)! Kliptown Youth is a South African partner of Eat So They Can and funds raised from this amazing event will be used to provide scholarships and books for 4 students from Kliptown in Soweto township, South Africa to attend University. It's such a wonderful feeling to know that these ambitious, smart and wonderful children can look forward towards a future filled with opportunity. Thank you Shelley and supporters for your wonderful efforts and donations!
To find out more about "The Gumboot Movement" or to just tell Shelley how awesome she is, please visit/follow http://thegumbootmovement.tumblr.com/.
Caitie Goddard
GVN Foundation
Programs Development Coordinator
1 comments:
It was absolutely an AMAZING ESTC evening in Shanghai last year. Please join Shelley this time too!
Diwen :)
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