Sponsor some warmth this winter
There is hope for hundreds of street dwellers in Mogale City with the help of the community.
Street dwellers have a bitter cold winter ahead of them, but there is hope as a shelter reaches out to the homeless community of Krugersdorp.
It is no secret that South Africa has thousands of homeless people who live on the streets.
Contributing factors are unemployment, substance abuse, poverty, mental illness, chronic health problems, domestic violence and self-harm.
“The situation in Mogale City, although dire, is not hopeless. A unique collaboration between churches and non-government organisations has become a beacon of light (and life) for many of the destitute residents of Mogale City. The Tower of Life Foundation converted an unused church building in the inner city into a temporary shelter for homeless persons.
“The century old church building now oozes with love, acceptance, opportunity, dignity and hope,” said Gert Jonker, founder of Bethany House Trust and Tower of Life.
The exact extent of homelessness in Mogale City is unclear, but an analysis of the demographic details of 271 persons who accessed the services offered at the Tower of Life over an 18-month period gives one some insight into who these destitute persons are.
According to their findings homeless people who have made use of the Tower of Life’s services are:
• Primarily white (55 per cent of all residents)
• Afrikaans-speaking (46 per cent of all residents)
• Male (86 per cent of all residents)
• Destitute (63 per cent of all residents)
• Unemployed (25 per cent of all residents)
• Substance abusers (two per cent of all residents)
• The ages vary from 17 to 71
Tower of Life also offers services towards restoring destitute victims’ dignity such as access to primary health care, psycho-social support, spiritual care, social security, skills development and educational opportunities.
Interesting to note is that over the last 18 months the homeless community of Mogale City enjoyed the Tower of Life’s overnight accommodation 23 782 times. They sat down to 33 561 hearty meals and enjoyed 32 921 hot showers, all at a cost of R20 per person per day.
The safe haven simply can not keep up as the total cost to operate the shelter for 100 persons amounts to R62 000 per month.
The shelter’s management model relies on the participation of KINGdom Partners to execute the operational objectives of this safe haven, which is simply not enough.
“We however need more churches, businesses, individuals and non-government organisations to take hands with the Tower of Life Foundation to ensure that sustainable services can be delivered to the homeless and destitute people of Mogale City.”
Members of the community want to help the homeless, but fear that the money donated would be used to purchase drugs and alcohol, instead of buying food. The same goes with donations as donors fear that the blankets and clothes will be sold for a next fix instead of being used.
The Tower of Life Foundation conceptualised a simple and proven solution: Tower of Life vouchers, bought in books of five vouchers for R100 (that is R20 per voucher). The vouchers will give a homeless person one night’s accommodation, a meal and a hot shower. The Tower of Life voucher can be given to a destitute person instead of money.
What can you do?
• Buy a few voucher books every month and then leave it at the Tower of Life shelter to provide ‘sponsored’ beds for homeless persons. On average they sponsor 15 people daily using these ‘sponsored’ vouchers
• Make the voucher books available at your church/ business for congregants/ clients to buy
• Buy the vouchers directly from the Tower of Life Foundation and hand these out to destitute people at traffic lights (instead of money)
You can get involved by contacting Anthony or Gabby on 011 660 4610 or 060 992 8719 to arrange to visit the shelter in the inner city (close to President Hyper) to experience first-hand how you can get involved.
