Heinz Park residents are grateful for the food they receive from parishioners of Christ the Saviour Anglica in Church in Lentegeur every Wednesday.
Maria Julies, 50, owner of a Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) house, said she depends on the food.
“I’m a patient at the day hospital and I need to eat to take my medication,” she said.
“If I don’t eat, I feel faint.”
Carol April, 50, who helps minister Ivan Davids and parishioner Roy Marsh to maintain order and distribute the food, said the food is blessed.
“Mr Davids always has something for us,” she said.
She said there are other people who distribute food in the area, but not every week.
In 1999, Mr Davids, who is a Lentegeur resident, retired, and a few years later, he decided he needed to do something with his free time.
He met up with a family friend, who introduced him to the area.
Eight years later, Mr Davids still feeds the community of Heinz Park.
“When I leave the area (after distributing the food), it feels like someone had just given me R1 000,” he said.
“I feel good because I can share with another person and the smile on a child’s face, when I give him or her a fruit, clothing or shoes, makes it all worthwhile,” he said.
Mr Davids said several people have asked him why he continues to feed people instead of teaching them to fish.
“It is not my business when the Lord will come into their lives and for them to know they can work,” he said.
He said over the years, several people have stood in the queue on and off as some of them found work.
“Some people are shy to queue but they are always willing to help set up and they look for work,” he said.
Roy Marsh from Portland, who recently retired, joined Mr Davids and together with volunteer cooks and money coming from their own pockets they feed a hundred people weekly.
Red Hawk Spur in Plumstead recently joined them and will be supplying food once a month.
The church has a soup kitchen in Lentegeur which is supported by Reverend Ruth Swartz, archdeacon of the Mitchell’s Plain Archdeaconry and positive responses to appeals in the church’s newsletter calling for donations of ingredients.
Some local businesses also supply ingredients and bread fro sandwiches and food, while some women cook and occasionally they distribute clothing, shoes and fruit.
If you are able to help the church with these feeding programmes, you can call Roy Marsh at 072 193 7763.
