Kitchen to provide ‘souper’ Christmas lunch for needy

THE Queensburgh Soup Kitchen plans to host a Christmas lunch for 350 people, mainly children, at the Queensburgh Rugby Club on December 18.

Elsie Schoeman founded the non-profit organisation in February this year and, prior to her opening the soup kitchen at the Queensburgh Rugby Club, she used to run it from her home.

ALSO READ: Bellevue’s soup kitchen campaign comes to an end

Schoeman is supported by four other women, Riette Makkink (fundraiser), Samantha Coetzee (chef) Franscina Du Randt (organiser) and Maropeng Makkink (volunteer). The team feeds 50 children from the Codemore informal settlement, and 125 other members of the Malvern and Queensburgh area, each Wednesday and Sunday.

The feeding scheme takes place at the Queensburgh Rugby Club premises between noon and 16:00.

“We try to give people a healthy, hot meal. It’s not always soup. We also serve a hot meal that is made up of mince, rice and veggies,” said Schoeman.

She added that the organisation also receives clothing donations, which are then distributed among the community when food is collected. In addition to the hot meals, the feeding scheme also provides juice, fruit and a packet of chips to the children.

The organisation collects all varieties of plastic containers that can be used to serve food in. Schoeman said she has always wanted to do something to give back to the community and most of the costs for the feeding scheme have been covered out of her own pocket and from supportive family members, who contribute towards the purchase of meat.

“We are hosting a special feeding scheme event, a Christmas lunch, for the community on December 18 and we plan to feed 350 underprivileged people in the Queensburgh community. We want to focus on the children and give them a decent Christmas meal and something extra to make their day memorable,” said Schoeman.

She appealed to the community to sponsor a lucky packet or small toy that can be given to a child as a Christmas gift. To make a donation, contact Riette on 079 698 5301. All Covid1- protocols will be followed on the day.

Do you want to receive alerts regarding this and other Highway community news via Telegram? Send us a Telegram message (not an SMS) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5409. You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

 

PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Telegram number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts. Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple.