Dear TROUBLE followers

What a nail-biting finish this year! Quick reminder: with only one day to go we were still 40% short of our goal, which was to raise R 45 960 (or 2 640 Euro).

But then: multitudes of TROUBLE fans worked some last-minute magic. Money poured in from all over the world, two sponsors even chipped in a second donation! And in the end we had raised a phenomenal R 48 175 (ca. 2 699 €)!

And so, we’ve even exceeded our fundraising goal, leaving Jenny with a little bit of extra cash for these uncertain times, where inflation is near impossible to predict.

We want to extend a humble, heartfelt thank you to each and every person who contributed so selflessly – especially in these hard times. Here is a note from Jenny for all our sponsors:

WINNERS OF THE PRIZE DRAW (in Germany):

In our previous prize-draws, the home-baked cookies turned out to be the absolute favourite. Last year things went spectacularly wrong with them. Flashback to 2020: the ingredients were all lined up and we were just about to start baking, when the phone rang and my kid’s teacher told me he was in quarantine with immediate effect because of a corona contact in his class. The uncertainty about his (and my??) possible infection made me stop right there. I didn’t want to accidently send infected cookies to our sponsors…)

So, this year, with no known contacts, the cookies were our main focus of our draw!! Anne (a long time super-sponsor) helped with the baking and contributed these amazing “I love TROUBLE” theme cookies:

My troublesome assistants then started to draw the names out of the bowl.

The winners of our mixed-cookie bags are:

1. Suzi
2. Sophie
3. Kate

And the winners of the mixed cookie bags (incl. the special edition “I love TROUBLE” cookies) are:

1. Alexandra
2. Cynthia
3. Nina
4. Martin
5. Anna

Congratulations to all of our winners! I will be in touch with you over the next few days about your prizes!!

Sorry to everyone who missed out – but THANK YOU for your ocntributions.

The fundraiser is dead – LONG LIVE THE FUNDRAISER!!

That is to say: if you were planning to still make a contribution, please do. Extra cash allows Jenny to take care of unexpected costs that are normally caused by medical emergencies, or her wheelchair, phone or computer (all of which have to be adapted to her special needs- making them really expensive.) We don’t want to set the fundraiser goals too high, but unfortunately it means that she’s always on a very tight budget. You can pay money into any of the accounts listed in the fundraiser mail, the money from Germany gets transferred to Jenny every 2-3 months. (One of our sponsors decided that Nov/Dec is a bad time of year for her, so now she transfers money at Valentines Day!) Any time is a good time for TROUBLE!

Again – thank you to everyone who contributed so generously. God bless. We’ll be back with another fundraiser next year!

Till then, have a lovely Christmas season.

All the best,

from Jenny Symons a.k.a. TROUBLE
and Yvette Coetzee-Hannemann (Friend, Fan and Funding Co-ordinator.)

Dear Trouble Aficionados

ONE DAY TO GO on our annual “I love TROUBLE” Fundraiser.

Despite amazing support, we are unfortunately still short. One can really see that times are tougher that normal. Especially the sponsors in South Africa have struggled to commit to as much as in previous years, and we can absolutely understand that.

So far, we’ve raised R 27 900 (about 1 530 Euro). That’s about 60% of our goal, to raise R 45 960 (2 640 Euro) by Sunday 5 December.

Thank you to everyone who has donated so generously so far!!

If you are still planning on making a contribution – there’s no time like the present! Write us an E-mail at fundraisingfortrouble(at)gmail.com for banking details.

Please feel free to browse our website to out more about Jenny Symons a.k.a. TROUBLE (the incredible woman who we’re doing the fundraiser for).

And for all our German sponsors: take a look at what Anne has prepared as a special surprize for the lucky draw:

Thank you Anne!!

Greetings to everyone – and thanks in advance for making this fundraiser work!

Yvette Coetzee-Hannemann (fundraising coordinator)
& Jenny Symons (a.k.a. TROUBLE).

Dear Friends,

Today is the deadline for our fundraiser. We were aiming at raising
R 45 960 (about 2640 Euro).

And so far we’ve raised an amazing R23 400 (about 1 280 Euro).

Thank you to EVERYONE who contributed!

Unfortunately, this is only about half of what we need to get Jenny through the coming year. 

But if we do a fundraiser for a lady whose motto is: “Never give up”, then we’re not going to give up at this point, are we? No way!!

And so, we are pushing the deadline back till Sunday 5 December so we can still reach our goal.

Please browse our website to read about what an amazing lady TROUBLE is, and what she has been up against all her life. You will see that she’s even tougher (and cooler) than Chuck Norris!

If you were thinking about contributing – please do so. Even the smallest amounts add up.

For banking info, please mail us at fundraisingfortrouble@gmail.com.

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!!! Have a TROUBLE-icious day!!

Yvette Coetzee-Hannemann (Friend, Fan, Fundraising co-ordinator) and Jenny Symons (a.k.a.TROUBLE)

Hey everyone!

This is a quick reminder, that there are only 4 days to go on our
„I love TROUBLE“ fundraiser.

So far, we’ve managed to raise an amazing R 13 370 (about 730 €).

THANK YOU to everyone who’s contributed so far!!!

Unfortunately though, this is only about 18% of our goal (R68 460 or 3 800€ by 30 November).

From past experience we know that a lot of contributions come at the end – so we’re optimistic we can still make it. But we’ll need all hands on deck.

To all of you who still want to chip in, please write an E-mail to fundraisingfortrouble(at)gmail.com.

And please keep beating the drum & tell as many people as you can think of who might be interested.

By the way: for all those of you living in Germany: we’ll be baking cookies this weekend for the prize draw. So, if you take part in the fundraiser now, you too have a chance to win!

You will find further info about this fundraiser an about Jenny, the amazing person the money is meant for by looking around on our website.

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!!! Have a TROUBLE-icious day!!

Hello again!

We’re kicking off the 2021 edition of the“I love TROUBLE” Fundraising campaign.

For those of you who don’t know Jenny (a.k.a. TROUBLE), feel free to browse our website to find out more. These annual fundraisers are vital in keeping her going – and every year we are amazed at the generosity of her friends and acquaintances, but also of many people who have never met her.

Last year, we raised a phenomenal R68 460 (about 3 800 € at the time)! Thank you again to EVERYONE who chipped in so generously in the midst of the pandemic!!!

That money has supported Jenny through this trying year – where they had to stay in the home for months on end and were often not allowed any visitors. Added to that, prices have been rising and it’s been increasingly difficult for her to get the medication she needs. Lately there has been some sort of normality again, and Jenny has even taken up art classes again, working on what she proudly calls Spastic Art.

Now, we’re looking to cover her expenses for 2022. Thanks to the increase in regular sponsors, we don’t need to raise quite as much as last year.

Our Fundraising Goal: By 30 November 2021 we want to raise R 45 960 (ca. 2 640 €)

The plan is to do so by getting

• R 2 275 (ca. 130 €) per month in regular, monthly contributions and
• R 18 660 (ca. 1 072 €) in one-off donations.

In order to reach these goals, in South Africa, we’re looking for:

• 4 people who can commit R50 per month
• 3 people who can commit R100 per month
• 2 people who can commit R150 per month
• 2 people who can commit R200 per month

Internationally (from all the countries with TROUBLE fans, including Britain, Sweden, Germany, New Zealand) we’re looking for:

• 4 people who can commit 3 Euro per month
• 3 people who can commit 5 Euro per month
• 2 people who can commit 7,50 Euro per month
• 2 people who can commit 10 Euro per month

“Regular contributions” mean that sponsors (maybe you?) commit to transferring a small amount (let’s say R50 / 5 €) every month for one year, from December 2020 until November 2021. Of course, we’ll be very happy if sponsors extend their support beyond that, but we will check in with everyone after a year to see if that is possible.

If a monthly commitment is not your thing, one-off donations are also very, very welcome! Even small amounts really help!

If you can make a contribution, please write to fundraisingfortrouble(at)gmail.com and we will send you Jenny’s banking details. We have fundraising accounts in South Africa and Germany or you can transfer via Paypal.

PRIZE DRAW:
Now we get to the good stuff, where we can give our generous sponsors something back! There will be a prize draw in Berlin for our German supporters (unfortunately, we can’t open it up to everyone, as postage fees are too high).

The prizes in the past have included some fun, home-made “I love TROUBLE” surprises like cookies, christmas cards and bookmarks with Jenny’s Spastic Art on them. What’ll it be this year? Watch this space to find out…

Here’s how it works: For every 10 € you donate or pledge, your name goes into the hat for the lucky draw at the end of the fundraiser. The names of people who pledge more go into the hat more than once – so the name of someone who pledges 5 € a month for a year (60€ in total) goes into the hat 6 times.

Make sure to send us a mail, of you want to be included! YOU could be the next winner!!

And, please remember to spread the word. Just over 3 weeks to go!!

Thank you!!

Trouble (Jenny) and Yvette (Friend, Fan, funding co-ordinator).fundraisingfortrouble(at)gmail.com.

Dear TROUBLE followers

We made it!! Our goal was to raise R 66 000 – yet this turned out to be our most successful fundraiser to date, in which:

all you generous people out there contributed a total of

R 68 460 (ca. 3 800 €)!

And so, for the very first time, we can cover more than the bare essentials – Jenny will even have a bit of cash left over to take care of some hardware issues she always postpones, eg. the custom made mouse on her computer that died this week.

With times being as hard as they are, we want to extend a humble, heartfelt thank you to each and every person who contributed so selflessly. When I told Jenny the final figures, she said it just made her feel so blessed, and so loved – and this communal effort means even more in a year where she faced extreme loneliness due to the lockdown. So – THANK YOU!!! Above you’ll also find a note from Jenny.

For those of you interested in details of the Fundraiser, the total is made up of

• R 3 030 in regular monthly contributions
• and a whopping R32 100 in one-off contributions

A GINORMOUS THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR SPONSORS!!

WINNERS OF THE PRIZE DRAW (in Germany):

I have to admit, I get all giddy with excitement prior to the prize draw- but my son ended up in quarantine exactly when I was planning to bake the cookies & get everything to the sponsors. And so (in order to make sure we didn’t accidently turn into superspreaders & send a whole-lot-more TROUBLE with the cookies than we intended) we had to make some changes and had to focus on prizes that can easily be sent by post. Even so, we got together some lovely loot, fitting to this unusual year.
My troublesome assistant then proceeded to draw the names out of the hat (there have never been this many!!).

And here are the winners:

3 bags with Glühwein-spices
(from the best spice shop we know) so you can make your own Glühwein to keep you warm for a walk outside with friends)

Sanja & Irina
Christiane
Irati

2 sets of three home-made Christmas-cards
(so you don’t need to run out & get some)

Anne
Anne’s mom

6 “Spastic Art” bookmarks with one of Jenny’s motifs
(so you can spend the long lock-down reading away…)

Sophie
Jeanne
Cynthia
Anna
Jeff
Sarah

Congratulations to all of our winners! I will be in touch with you over the next few days about your prizes!!

The fundraiser is dead – LONG LIVE THE FUNDRAISER!!

That is to say: if you were planning to still make a contribution, please do. Extra cash allows Jenny to take care of unexpected costs that are normally caused by her wheelchair, phone or computer (all of which have to be adapted to her special needs- making them really expensive.) We don’t want to set the fundraiser goals too high, but unfortunately it means that her technological support is often terribly outdated. You can pay money into any of the accounts listed in the fundraiser mail, the money from Germany gets transferred to Jenny every 2-3 months. (One of our sponsors decided that Nov/Dec is a bad time of year for her, so now she transfers money at Valentines Day!) Any time is a good time for TROUBLE.

Again – thank you to everyone who contributed so generously. God bless. We’ll be back with another fundraiser next year!

Till then, have a lovely Christmas season. And stay safe.

All the best, from Jenny Symons a.k.a. TROUBLE and Yvette Coetzee-Hannemann (Friend, Fan and Funding Co-ordinator.)

Dear Friends, Colleagues & Trouble Aficionados

We have seen incredible support for our annual fundraiser in this most unusual year.

So far, we’ve raised about R60 000 (3 300 €) – making this the most successful fundraiser to date!

Thank you to all the amazing people who have made such generous contributions.

This leaves us only about 9% short of our goal: to raise R66 000 by Sunday 6 December (today!)

So, if you were still planning on making a contribution towards Jenny Symons (a.k.a. Trouble) for 2021 – there’s no time like the present!

PRIZE DRAW IN GERMANY:
Due to unforseen circumstances, we’ve had to make some last-minute changes to the Prizes for the Lucky Draw. Unfortunately, the popular home-made cookies are not a safe option this year: my son is currently in quarantine, and though I wanted to take every precaution, it just feels wrong to bake and send cookies under these circumstances (I don’t want to accidently spread more than love & appreciation to our amazing sponsors 🙂 )
I hope you understand. I have also been forced to choose items that can be sent by mail without serious extra cost. And so, this year, the following prizes will be up for grabs:
– home-made “I love TROUBLE” bookmarks
– sets of upcycled home-made Christmas cards
– herbs for making Glühwein (from our favourite local specialty herb shop).

We’ll keep our fingers crossed!

You can find out more about Jenny’s incredible life, as well as her finances and budget on this website.

If you would like to make a  contribution, please write to fundraisingfortrouble(at)gmail.com.

THANK YOU ALL!!

Dear Friends,

We knew, going into this fundraiser, that this is an extraordinarily difficult year to raise funds in. So many people are facing financial pressure and insecurity. And so we are humbled by the amazing support so far.

To date, we’ve raised an incredible R41 165 (about 2 235 Euro)

Thank you to everyone who contributed.

Unfortunately, however, this does still leave us quite a bit short of our goal, which was R66 000.

The amount of money we need to get Jenny (a.k.a. TROUBLE) through 2021 is significantly higher from last year (when our goal was R51 000). Jenny’s health has suffered a few setbacks, so that her costs for medication and nappies has increased quite a bit. And of course we want to/need to cover this as well.

And so, we have decided to push the deadline back till Sunday 6 December, to give everyone and anyone who might not have got around to it yet a chance to still contribute – or to pass on info about this fundraiser. 

If you were thinking about making a donation – please take the plunge!Write to us at fundraisingfortrouble(at)gmail.com for more info.

Yvette Coetzee-Hannemann (Friend, Fan, Fundraising co-ordinator) and Jenny Symons (a.k.a.TROUBLE)

Hello, everyone

So far, we’ve managed to raise an amazing
R 34 260 (about 1 900 €).

That is about 52% of our goal  (R66 000 by 30 November 2020).

THANK YOU to all the amazing people who have contributed!!!

We do still have a long way to go, though, so please keep beating the drum!

In terms of regular monthly contributions in South Africa, we’re still looking for

– 1 person who can contribute R50
– 2 people who can contribute R100
– 2 people who can contribute R200
– 1 person who can contribute R250

In terms of regular monthly contributions in Germany (or the rest of Europe or indeed the world) we’re still looking for

– 2 people who can contribute €5
– 1 person who can contribute € 7,50
– 1 person who can contribute € 10,00

And please remember, one-off contributions are also more than welcome – we’re still looking for R15 500 in one-off contributions.

If you would like to make a one-off contribution, or a regular monthly contribution (limited to 1 year, 01.12.20-01.11.21 ) feel free to contact us at fundraisingfortrouble(at)gmail.com.

If you’d like to know more about where the money goes, please look under “Financial Info” of this website.

And for all the people in Germany: be sure to get involved by 30 November 2020, so your name can be included in the lucky prize draw! For every 10 Euros you contribute, your name goes into the hat once. So, the more you give, the bigger your chances!

My charming and experienced helpers (these photos are from 2018) then draw the names of the winners.

It might even be you!

This year the prizes are all home-made! There will be some special “I love TROUBLE” surprises – including the cookies that were such a hit last year, a jar of home-made jam and much, much more.

So – make sure to make your contribution within the next 5 days, and then watch this space for the outcome of our draw.

Good luck!! And stay safe.

Yvette (Friend, Fan & Funding Coordinator) and Jenny (a.k.a. TROUBLE).

Hallo again!

We’re kicking off the 2020 edition of the “I love TROUBLE” Fundraising campaign with the motto:

No end of TROUBLE this year

For those of you who don’t know Jenny (a.k.a. TROUBLE), feel free to browse our website to find out more. These annual fundraisers are vital in keeping her going – and every year we are amazed at the generosity of her friends and aquaintances, but also of many people who have never met her.

Last year we raised a phenomenal R44 792 (about 2 750 € at the time)! Thank you again to EVERYONE who chipped in!!!

That money has supported Jenny through this trying year – when she contracted Covid 19 herself – luckily a very mild case. She expressed her immense gratitude for being in a home that took excellent care of her, and our deepest thanks go to all of the carers who helped her in and out of her bed and her wheelchair, washed her every day and did many other things that don’t allow for any distance. Jenny recovered fully and was causing trouble again in no time.

Now, we’re looking to cover her expenses for 2021.

Our Fundraising Goal: By 30 November 2020 we want to raise R 66 000 (ca. 3 500 €)

The plan is to do so by getting

• R 3 855 (ca. 205 €) per month in regular, monthly contributions and
• R 20 000 (ca. 1 065 €) in one-off donations.

In order to reach these goals, in South Africa, we’re looking for:

• 3 people who can commit R50 per month
• 3 people who can commit R100 per month
• 3 people who can commit R200 per month
• 3 people who can commit R250 per month

Internationally (from all the countries with TROUBLE fans, including Britain, Sweden, Germany, New Zealand) we’re looking for:

• 3 people who can commit 5 Euro per month
• 3 people who can commit 7,50 Euro per month
• 3 people who can commit 10 Euro per month
• 3 people who can commit 15 Euro per month

“Regular contributions” mean that sponsors (maybe you?) commit to transferring a small amount (let’s say R50 / 5 €) every month for one year, from December 2020 until November 2021. Of course, we’ll be very happy if sponsors extend their support beyond that, but we will check in with everyone after a year to see if that is possible.

If a monthly commitment is not your thing, one-off donations are also very, very welcome! Even small amounts really help!

If you can make a contribution, please write to fundraisingfortrouble(at)gmail.com and we will send you Jenny’s banking details (we have fundraising accounts in South Africa and Germany or you can transfer via Paypal.

PRIZE DRAW:
Now we get to the good stuff, where we can give our generous sponsors something back! There will be a prize draw in Berlin for our German supporters (unfortunately, we can’t open it up to everyone, as postage fees are too high).

The prizes last year included some “I love TROUBLE” pens, 5 packets with home-baked cookies and the grand prize: super cool oven mitts! What’ll it be this year? Watch this space to find out…

Here’s how it works: For every 10 € you donate or pledge, your name goes into the hat for the lucky draw at the end of the fundraiser. The names of people who pledge more than 10 € go into the hat more than once – so the name of someone who pledges 5 € a month for a year (60€ in total) goes into the hat 6 times.

Make sure to send us a mail, of you want to be included!

And, please remember to spread the word. Just 4 weeks to go!!

Thank you!!

Trouble (Jenny) and Yvette (Friend, Fan, funding co-ordinator). fundraisingfortrouble(at)gmail.com.