Warm meal helps spread festive cheer to hundreds
BLESSINGS came in take-away boxes yesterday when residents in Malabar Extension Six were treated to a warm, home-cooked meal.
Called the Buckets of Blessings and Festive Feed initiative, the project is run by local charity Love Story and SPAR Eastern Cape.
The project has seen a number of impoverished communities in Nelson Mandela Bay receiving a meal from the soup kitchen throughout the week, with staff from The Herald lending a helping hand to slice, dice and chop vegetables on Monday morning.
SPAR EC sponsorship and events manager Alan Stapleton said the project had been started as a way to give back to the community.
“With the festive season upon us, we wanted to share the spirit of giving with those who were less fortunate, so we are going around serving soup meals in different communities.
“It is all to assist in making the load of soup kitchens lighter, even if it is for just a week,” he said.
“This campaign feeds about 200 people a day during its course.”
Love Story administration and operations officer Anita Boucher said: “We worked with SPAR on some of our other projects. They have shown a great interest in doing things for the less fortunate over the festive season.
“This is the second year the campaign is running.
“We identify organisations that we usually work with during the year and we just continue with them.
“This whole week we are set to be on the go. We also have a limited number of food parcels that we are planning to give to some of the residents just to tide them over this season.”
Natasha Adams, a resident, said the weekly soup kitchen played an integral part in the community and residents really appreciated the effort.
“A lot of us in this community are unemployed and are dependent on piece jobs that we get every now and then. Sometimes I have nothing in the house to eat and the only guaranteed meal I know is from the soup kitchen.”
The Buckets of Blessings campaign is set to carry on throughout the week, with meals to be given out in KwaDwesi tomorrow.
The only guaranteed meal I know is from the soup kitchen