The Union of Jewish Women (UJW) hosted a draw at Norwood Mall on 15 April where Debbie Firer won a trip to Israel with Ethiopian Airlines.
Debbie and her daughter Caylin participated in the union’s voluntary donation programme earmarked to help feed the needy in the Johannesburg north-eastern suburbs.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, members of the UJW initiated their assisted Meals on Wheels programme which was run by the church in Yeoville.
According to the union, volunteers discovered that there were some Jewish recipients who, reluctantly and unhappily, felt forced to accept the non-kosher food as there was nowhere they could get kosher food.
Cindy Kree, executive director at the Union of Jewish Women, said most of them were housebound and were also very lonely.
She said they then identified 14 people who were desperate for cooked kosher food, and they approached all Jewish organisations to help find a solution to the problem. “After many meetings and much planning, the union undertook to deliver meals to these 14 people, and Kosher Mobile Meals was born,” Kree said.
“The old aged home in Sandringham agreed to provide the cooked food, and one of our members offered the use of her kombi. During 1972 the first meals were delivered.”
Freshly-cooked hot food was delivered from the home’s pots straight to the kitchens of the recipients. Often volunteers would go beyond in assisting recipients with other needs as well.
Kree said that in the early days, deliveries were done three times a week adding that volunteers filled paper cups with soup and tried to secure the lids using sticky tape. “The Kosher Mobile Meal’s kombi was driven to Berea, Hillbrow, Joubert Park and the City Centre, and the food was taken in baskets to the recipients by two volunteers at a time, while those in the kombi got the next lot of baskets ready.
“There were many incidents – some sad and some happy, but over the past 46 years, Kosher Mobile Meals has ensured that elderly, frail individuals were visited and given nourishing food,” she said.
Kree said the costs for Pesach increases every year, and this year the union invited the public to assist in donating towards the Pesach Appeal, and Firer was among them. The donors were invited to win a variety of different prizes, including the trip to Israel as well as two return domestic flights and accommodation, jewellery, make-up, vouchers and a food warming hostess.
Details: projects@ujw.co.za
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