Each year, Abundant Life Feeding Angels, a non-profit organisation (NPO) stationed in Lavender Hill caters to hundreds of children and adults with a meal on Christmas Day.
And this year is no different. However, the NPO is seeking much-needed assistance with food donations to make the occasion special for many underprivileged families in the community.
Marlene Satarien, the founder of the NPO, says there is a great need for food in Lavender Hill. “When we started in 2009 over the Easter weekend, we started with meals for a small number of kids and by the end of the year saw that there was a big need for food.
“We first only gave to children but during covid we saw many adults were also in need of food.”
Satarien adds that their motto has always been to help children because often adults would use their money on alcohol and cigarettes instead of food.
“In the past, we used to cook for 300 children every week but this year we could only cook once a week.
“There is a lot of gang violence happening in our community, so we could not cook twice a week anymore, also after covid, our sponsors stopped donating.”
She adds that it was sad to see how poverty and gangsterism affected children in the community. “We noticed a young boy who used to come to our feeding scheme, was now robbing people in the community.”
However, she has also seen the positive impact of feeding hungry tummies on children. “When we started we had two girls who came to our feeding scheme and helped with the cooking, they later started to live here and now one has become a police officer and the other has completed her matric and celebrated her 21st birthday.”
During Christmas, there are around 500 kids who rely on a meal and party packs. “Every Christmas we invite the elderly and children and we make lunch for everyone.
For the kids, we need party packs, fruit, juice and vegetables and rice to cook a pot of food and make a salad.
“If there are people who can help us to give a successful Christmas lunch again, we would be most grateful.”
For details or to assist, contact Marlene Satarien on 082 799 3579.
