Local beauty warms lives of City’s destitute

AN estimated 4 000 homeless people are living on the streets of Durban, and trying desperately to stay warm this winter.

This statistic has shocked, and motivated a Sea Cow Lake resident, Aishwarya Bedessy to step up and assist.

In June the 22-year-old launched her Winter Warm-Up Drive in the hopes of sharing some warmth with the City’s most destitute by collecting and distributing clothing hampers to those in need.

To date the community has donated a whopping 70 bin bags filled with clothing, and Bedessy has begun the time consuming process of sorting and personally distributing the hampers to the homeless.

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“My mum and I drove through areas such as Phoenix and central Durban where we have previously seen people who are in desperate need, and handed out the packets to the men,” explained the Miss India SA second princess.

The women’s hampers were distributed at the Haven of Hope Shelter for Homeless in the heart of Durban.

She plans on donating the children’s hampers to the Durban North and La Lucia baby homes.

“It was such heart-warming experience to see how much this small donation means to so many people. While this is just a small effort on my part I hope that it will bring some comfort to their daily lives,” she said.

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“Even if we had received only one jacket this would all have been worth it, but I am thrilled that the response has been so unbelievable and that we were able to help so many.”

The final year environmental management student has decided to extend the drive until 15 July and urge people to support the worthy cause.

She said they were especially in need of men’s clothing as a majority of the people living on the streets are men.

Contact Aishwarya Bedessy on 076 174 6116.

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