Help for the vulnerable

The Helen Bowden Nurses Home near the V&A Waterfront.

An organisation run by Sea Point residents is doing its bit to assist vulnerable members of society through the national 21-day lockdown which is being enforced to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The lockdown, which started at midnight on Thursday March 26, will be in place until midnight on Thursday April 16.

Sea Point CAN is currently running projects to assist the 700 residents occupying the Ahmed Kathrada House (AKH) at the old Helen Bowden Nurse’s Home in Granger Bay.

Working in partnership with CAN Gugulethu, they’ve managed to supply the residents with essential sanitation products, awareness campaigning and supplementary food supplies.

Co-founder, Isa Jacobson, said they started the project a few days before the lockdown was announced. She said they focused on AKH residents in particular because they did not have access to clean water.

“We’ve managed to supply the residents with 800 multi-lingual educational pamphlets on Covid-19, 75 litres of dishwashing liquid soap, water bags, various other water containers, so that they are able to wash their hands on a daily basis,” she said

This past week, they’ve managed to supply residents with meals worth R5 500.

“Most residents at AKH are working piece(meal) jobs and they have children to feed. The lockdown has affected everyone and the situation is worse with them because they don’t even have electricity. We’ll be doing this throughout the lockdown,” she said.

The organisation is also channelling support to the homeless community with another group preparing meals from home in partnership with NGOs and soup kitchens such as Ladles of Love, Souper Troopers and the Green Point Haven Night Shelter.

Meanwhile, Ladles of Love, based in the CBD, is calling on members of the public to help feed the homeless during lockdown. Founder Danny Diliberto said, during the lockdown
they will be feeding about 1000 homeless people being housed at the City’s temporary
shelters.

“We have committed with the City to assist the homeless with food for their temporary shelters they are erecting in the CBD and therefore ongoing donations are key during this challenging time.

“We will definitely be supporting these sites with two meals daily and if another site becomes available in the CBD we will do our best to support this as well, depending on monetary and food donations,” he said.

He said they were working with The Haven Night Shelters in Green Point and District Six, as well as the Culemborg Safe Space to help serve those still wandering the streets.

Other than monetary donations which, he said, enabled them to bulk buy non-perishable food items, they also needed “a continuous stream” of vegetables and bottled
water.

“To those who have already generously donated, I would like to say a huge thank you for all your donations. This generosity has allowed us to continue our efforts in making a difference in the community during this difficult period and we appreciate your kindness.”

The public can get involved either by joining the team as a volunteer, donating, sponsoring, or becoming a partner. Visit the Ladles of Love Facebook page or go to https://www.ladlesoflove.org.za for more information.