Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Ladles of Love volunteers serve cooked food to poor, NGOs
HINTS of paprika, mixed spice and cumin fill the air as volunteers from Ladles of Love prepare food for the poor. Founder Danny Diliberto said they not only cook delicious, but also nutritional food.
Ladles of Love has had to dramatically increase its cooking production since the start of lockdown and provided 150 000 cooked meals, more than 500 000 sandwiches, 100 000 boiled eggs and 110 tons of fresh produce to 77 NGOs.
“We began with one soup kitchen in 2014, serving 70 to 100 meals a week. Since Covid-19 hit our shores, it became more about whoever needed help.
“Since we went into lockdown, Ladles of Love has gone from serving around 15 000 meals a month to 65 000 meals a week, with this figure increasing weekly,” said Diliberto.
Their food parcels and cooked meals are prepared from produce they give to community soup kitchens.
“We provide them with the ingredients to be able to continue cooking and feeding the hungry in their areas,” explained Diliberto.
“The kitchen is a hive of activity. We have volunteers who peel, chop and clean the veggies.
Arno Janse van Rensburg and Liezl Odendaal from Janse & Co run the kitchen in conjunction with volunteer chefs from Dish Food & Social and various voluntary chefs whose restaurants and hotels are currently closed (among them chefs from the One & Only),” said
Diliberto.
Janse van Rensburg said: “The best part of my day is seeing everyone in the mornings when they’re nice and fresh – big smiles on all the faces.
“The trickiest part is getting the thousands of meals out hot, delicious and on time. Knowing that I’m part of this, that I can make a small difference in people’s lives, is my motivation right now.” The soup is prepared in the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) kitchen.
Vusi Skhosana, the volunteer organisation’s dispatch manager, said: “All of a sudden one day, we woke up and were stuck in our houses. In one moment, everything changed; we can’t take anything for granted. I came to work here at Ladles because, when it all began, I felt I wanted to give back to my community. I didn’t have anything material to offer – but I thought I could give my time instead of being stuck at home.”
The number of volunteers has significantly increased, peeling between 500 – 700kg of vegetables a day. In addition, Prestige Cleaning have donated their staff and are cleaning the kitchens and washing dishes daily.
“We are humbled how Ladles of Love has been able to bring people together and rewrite the Covid-19 story in the spirit of Seva, a beautiful Sanskrit word meaning giving of yourself without expecting anything in return,” added Diliberto.
He said the organisation had been inundated with support from all corners of the city.
“The truth is, everyone wants to help and be part of the solution, whether by donating money, volunteering their time, making food or mobilising support. This has been both incredible and overwhelming.”
Diliberto told the Weekend Argus the sudden high demand had stretched the organisation at a logistical level, seeing it completely outgrow its current headquarters.
They are grateful to the CTICC for coming to the rescue with 1500m² of space to serve as temporary logistics headquarters until June 30.
Help serve a million meals by simply donating R150 a month. For more information, see https://www.ctloved.co.za.