On the 1^st of July 2020, VBKOM turned 12 years old.  With the current lock down regulations, we had to channel our creativity and think of a unique way to celebrate this milestone.

The Corporate Services team started devising a plan of action to ensure that the entire VBKOM team celebrates this day in true VBKOM-fashion.

We contacted our Geology Principal, Paul Obermeyer to arrange for pizza delivery from the restaurant that he co-owns with his wife, and the wheels were set in motion.  Lalieu Marais (Executive – Corporate Services) started phoning some of her bakery contacts to add a sweet treat in the form of individually packaged cupcakes – because without cake, a birthday celebration is just not the same.

VBKOM’S Story

An incredibly special gift was also being printed – the first 10 years of the VBKOM story.  Manie Kriel, our CEO, tasked Lalieu and Chantelle (Marketing and Communication) to start writing the VBKOM Story.  An external communications specialist, Kristly Bartlett (owner of Convey Communications) was contracted to assist in bringing the VBKOM story to life.

On the day we set up a total of five “stations” in the VBKOM parking area to maintain our social distancing protocol while celebrating:

• A sanitizing station,
• A pizza pick-up station (each person could grab their pre-ordered pizza without too much handling, which was manned by Chantelle),
• A cupcake collection station (individually packaged red velvet cupcakes were arranged for everyone, which was manned by Lalieu),
• A gift-giving station (individually wrapped VBKOM story books, which was manned by the latest addition to the VBKOM-family, Refiloe Ndlela); and finally
• A snap-shot station (with Eduan Pieterse, the photographer of the day, capturing the celebration)

VBKOM – Having Fun, Seriously

Being in lock down is hard, and not being able to see each other outside of the virtual meeting rooms for more than three months had led to this event being one of the best attended VBKOM socials in our history.

Although having a social-distancing social is a strange occurrence, it was a great success!  It was great to see coworkers and to catch up on everyone’s lock down stories.

We are proud of the people that we are, and we thank each VBKOM’er for participating in this event, sticking to the regulations, and mostly, for having fun – seriously!