Christmas

Christmas Day Lunch for the Homeless in Cape Town 2020!

A very big thank you to all for your support towards our Christmas Day Lunch for the Homeless in Cape Town!

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we had to adjust our annual event to ensure everyone’s safety but we achieved our goal of spreading the joy of Christmas to the homeless community in Landsdown. We had an overwhelming response from volunteers who offered to cook meals. With the extra meals that were provided, we were able to give them all, not 1 but 2 meals each! They also received cake, cooldrink, Yebo Fresh food parcels as well as hand sanitisers and face masks.

We are deeply grateful for everyone’s generosity, kindness and enthusiasm that made this event possible.

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School Bag and Sanitary Pad Drive 2021 – Packing and Distribution during COVID-19

In December 2021, the packing and distribution of hampers to disadvantaged children in the Klipgat region was rather different to previous years. With the pandemic still quite rife, we needed to ensure that we can still successfully reach the same amount of children, as we do annually, while still ensuring the safety of all volunteers and the children.

Through a large stream of donations that came through from a large number of people, we were able to secure great quality school bags, stationery, masks and liquid sanitizer for 800 disadvantaged children. We were also able to secure a supply of sanitary pads for girls who require them but may not always have access to them.

The packing was done with approximately 20 volunteers at the Shree Pretoria Hindu Seva Samaj premises on a Friday evening and the bags were distributed swiftly by a small group of volunteers on the Saturday morning in the Klipgat region.

Despite many challenges experienced, the initiative was a success yet again!

A special thanks to all those wonderful volunteers who assisted in packing until late on Friday night. Thanks to SPHSS for the use of the mini hall for this purpose.

A heartfelt thanks to the volunteers who assisted in the distribution at the two venues on Saturday and at the two schools on Monday.

A BIG THANK YOU to our generous donors. You have put a smile on the faces of 800 indigent children as well as 50 young ladies who received 3 months stock of sanitary pads as well as personal under garments. Your donations has ensured that the sanitary pads drive will be repeated for the next three quarters to the same young lasses, who will then in fact, receive sanitary pads supplies for a full year.

An extra special thanks goes out to Howard Shankman of Railway Furnishers, who generously donated all the stationery. Sanjay Govind for the school books. Balwant Parbhoo from Sea Breeze who donated 800 masks for the children, all of whom masked up before receiving their gifts, in line with Covid protocols, as well as to Anil Kalyan from Fine Art Printers for the donation of 800 adult masks. Not forgetting Shiraz Gani for the loan of his truck and driver to transport the bags to Klipgat and surrounds.

See you all next year!

   

    

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Pasta Kitchen – Food Parcels / November

Thank you to all the donations that have come in these last few months, especially to our regular donors! We managed to buy and deliver 90 food parcels to those in need!

The Obs Pasta Kitchen is grateful for all your support and wish you a safe and healthy Festive season.
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Christmas Day Lunch for the homeless 2019

A very big THANK YOU to all our generous donors, sponsors and volunteers who made the Christmas Day Lunch for the homeless Landsdowne community such a huge success and heartwarming experience!! 

We are overwhelmed by the generosity, kindness and enthusiasm that made this event possible. Donations of food and hygiene items flowed in and we raised over R20 000 in cash. With these donations, we were able to provide 120 community members with a warm delicious meal of macaroni & sauce, cooldrink, cupcakes & treats, and also gift each person with a goodie bag filled with hygiene items and non-perishable foods. We had 75 volunteers on the day who braved the rain and came out to spread the Christmas love!

This years event was particularly special as it may be the last Christmas for this community in their informal homes as they face to be forcibly removed by the city this month. The community has been devastated and we couldn’t think of a better way to spend Christmas than to give to those less fortunate during this difficult time. Over the years we have developed a good relationship with this community…their leader Michael always comments on how our volunteers interact with so much sincerity and love – so thank you all for being part of this!

The event was featured in The Argus and eNuus which highlighted the community’s upcoming displacement:
https://www.enca.com/afrikaans/moontlik-laaste-kersete-vir-lansdowne-haweloses

Photos by Alice Bensi:

Photos by Anneliese Le-Brenton:

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Utec Xmas Project

While Christmas is usually a time for family and friends to get together and celebrate for various reasons, the underprivileged often do not have much reason to smile given their circumstances.

Think about those people living life on the streets, no income, no place to call home and no family to share this magical time with. Christmas is a time for giving and here’s a great chance to give to those who need it most. A Christmas hamper to bring such joy to their lives.  Each year our volunteers around the country undertake to make a difference through providing food hampers, toiletries, meals, and gifts.

On behalf of  The International Association for Human Values, (IAHV) in association with our sponsor United Technical Equipment Co Pty Ltd, over 1,000 hampers were distributed to the needy. Close to 5,000 people in need received food over the festive season through this worthy project.  Some of the beneficiaries of these hampers include orphans and vulnerable children, the elderly and communities that destitute and in need.

100 boxes were given to Ikageng who distributed the boxes to the most needy of the almost 2000 beneficiaries under their care.  Ikageng is an organization that takes care of the holistic needs of OVC or orphans and vulnerable children. This includes providing clothing, food, socio support, health support and education, etc.

The director, the social workers and the caregivers have indicated that the Xmas hampers have helped them in situations where the government food donations have not come through for beneficiaries. Last year a young girl wrote a letter saying that the food hampers saved her and her siblings after their house burned down and the people they were staying with did not have enough to feed the family.

Read the Thank You letter

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Christmas at the Tsholanang Community Development Centre

A Christmas Party was held for the mothers who selflessly prepare meals every school day for the orphan and vulnerable children at both Maropeng  and Bodubelo Primary Schools in Ga-Rankuwa.

These deserving mothers who receive no remuneration for their selfless work were showered with gifts which included a mini hi-fi set donated by Railway Furnishers. They also received a braai pack to take home to their families. Monies were collected particularly so that each of the mothers were given a substantial cash donation as a heartfelt thanks for their Service.

This project is dependent on donations and we look forward to individuals or corporates who wish to come on board. Just over one hundred orphan and vulnerable children are fed every school day at these two schools. This feeding scheme has been ongoing since 2011.

Project leader Jagdish Makan can be contacted on +27 82 55 00 595 for further information.

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2018 Christmas Lunch

We were overwhelmed by the generosity, kindness and enthusiasm that made our Christmas Lunch for the Landsdowne Homeless Community possible. With the huge amount of donations received we were able to provide everyone with a warm meal of macaroni & sauce, soft drink, cupcakes, biscuits, chips and a backpack filled with hygiene items. Additional items such as blankets and clothing were also donated.

Michael, the leader from the Lansdowne community said that he had not seen their community so happy before and that they were very touched by how beautifully the volunteers interacted with so much love towards them! We all feel very blessed to have been able to achieve this and being part of spreading the love and joy of Christmas.

Beautiful photographs of the event taken by our 2 photographers Cam Kellet and Warren Wilson.

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2017 Christmas Hamper Project

Volunteers from UTEC (Christmas hamper sponsor) and IAHV/Art of Living volunteers packed 1000 Xmas hampers which were distributed to needy families, church groups, child headed families and various community organizations in need where they were welcomed with open hearts. Thanks to their efforts, the lives of 1000 families were brightened over Christmas, December 2017.

 

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