A new partnership in Lansdowne aims to feed the needy while also teaching them how to be self-sustainable.
The Lea Rose Foundation, a non-profit organisation, registered in May this year, is working with the Ottery Wetton Lansdowne (Owl) shelter and the Margaret House on the project.
The first food hand-out took place on Friday July 8, at the Flamingo Heights informal settlement in Lansdowne, where about 100 people were given warm soup and bread, said co-founder at the Lea Rose foundation Patricia Holmes.
She started cooking at her house last year before the foundation partnered with the Owl shelter to use its kitchen.
The idea for the foundation had come about in November last year and its purpose was also to help the needy stand on their own two feet, she said.
The foundation hoped to feed 200 people once a week in Crawford, Wynberg, Grassy Park, Lansdowne, Wetton and Ottery and expand to other areas, she said.
“On Saturday August 27, we will have a lunch for about 100 needy widows, where we hope to build a database of windows that we can support.
“At the moment, we need premises to work from as we are working from the Owl shelter’s kitchen. Our own premises will help us to cook for more people.
“We really need donations of disposable packaging, vegetables, rice, chicken, soup bones, soup mix, beef, mince, lentils, sweet things or snacks, spices, oil and vinegar and margarine, amasi, samp and beans, bread or anything that people can donate. We will make use of all of it. We are really dependent on donations from the community to make this work.”
Lansdowne ward councillor Mark Kleinschmidt said he supported the initiative.
“The community is feeling very positive about this partnership and they are happy to donate to it,” he said.
Phottia Truter, a social worker at the Owl shelter, said that many school children came to the shelter after school for food.
“The partnership will definitely help the community because there is a great need for food in the community,” she said.