Mellon changes name of charity

ON A night of surprise announcements, late on Friday philanthropist Niall Mellon told his army of volunteer builders he is taking his name off the charity he founded.

During a speech, he said he took the advice of his supporters who said the Niall Mellon Township Trust had to be about more than one man.

He also took the opportunity to break the news that two of his volunteers, Alan O’Rafferty and Rachelle Ziglstra, had crowned a highly emotional week by getting engaged after the blitz’s successful conclusion.

Alan, 34, a three-year blitz veteran from Castleknock, proposed to Rachelle, 32, from the Netherlands, at Table Mountain shortly after they left the township site in tears.

“The (Niall Mellon) week has been such a big part of life that I really wanted Rachelle to come with me and see what it is all about. And that is why I wanted us to get engaged over here.

“We were supposed to go up Table Mountain but when we got to the cable car it was closed so I asked her there and then,” he said.

The couple have still to decide on a date for their wedding but they are planning it around next year’s building blitz.

By then the charity will be under a new name with different branding, according to its founder.

He said this made sense given the organisation’s rate of expansion and he would open it up to everyone who has volunteered in the five- year history of the charity to pick a new name.

“We are going to have a vote. Everybody who has been here one year will have one vote, everybody who has been here twice will get two votes and right up along,” he said.

He broke the news at a gala ball outside Cape Town to celebrate the 1,350 volunteer builders who last week completed 203 houses for the residents of the Freedom Park township.

Speaking about next year, the 40-year-old Dubliner said he had decided to increase the size of the project.

Next year the charity will bring 2008 volunteers for a more ambitious programme and take its building blitz outside Cape Town for the first time.

With interest of volunteers running high after the publicity around this year’s blitz, he said the enlarged team will move to Johannesburg, where Mellon is already providing social housing though his locally-based staff.

After her first visit, soon-to-be-married Rachelle said she would recommend the week-long trip.

“It is amazing. Alan is always talking about it, but it is different when you are here. When you get to help the people in the township you can see they are so grateful and so warm,” she said.