It was a happy ending for Myrtle Dittberner (77) who received a new but second-hand car thanks to her former students after her car was stolen.
Dittberner’s car was stolen on 8 July at a shopping centre in Emmarentia. The Northcliff Melville Times later published an article about the incident which lead to her former German School students starting a crowdfunding project to buy her a new car. The project was started by German School alumnus, Thomas Troxler.
Myrtle Dittberner’s new silver Toyota Yaris.
Within a week, the crowdfunding goal of R100 000 was reached but was kept open to see how much money they could raise. At the end of the crowdfunding period, a total of R109 297 was gathered.
A total of 5.5 percent of the money went back to Candy Stick, the crowdfunding website, to pay for its fees; then a large portion went towards buying the car and the remainder went to a year’s worth of insurance.
On 4 August, Dittberner, along with Sonja Blum, one of her former students, went to sign for her new silver Toyota Yaris at Imperial Toyota Parktown.
Filipe Leal, Imperial Toyota Parktown sales executive hands Myrtle Dittberner the keys to her new car.
“We did an Automark check on her car, which is a full car inspection. We replaced the clutch because she had some trouble with it when she went for the test drive and we also discounted the car for her,” Filipe Leal, Imperial Toyota Parktown sales executive explained.
Once the heaps of paperwork were completed, a very grateful and emotional Dittberner had tears in her eyes because of all the generosity she had seen from her former students.
“I would like to thank each and every former German School scholar, the newspaper as well as my daughter Gudrun Dittberner for all the generosity. This is like a dream come true,” an emotional Dittberner said once her new car keys were put in her hand.
She is now mobile again and said she requested her garage to be swept at her Parktown flat so that her new car can be stored in a spotless and safe space.
Source:-northcliffmelvilletimes