Destitute family grateful for Hearts of Toti’s support
A mother shares her devastating story of their family falling into hard times and how Hearts of Toti have helped them through this time by providing food parcels and going above and beyond the norm in kindness and assistance.
A DESTITUTE family in Amanzimtoti is grateful for Hearts of Toti which has helped them with food parcels and shown them compassion when they had nowhere else to turn.
Mother and wife, Julia Johnston*, extends a big thank you to non-profit organisation Hearts of Toti, more specifically its co-founder Shanay Kapp, who has been a godsend to her family. She said without the help of this amazing organisation, they would have been left completely down and out.
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“We ran out of options – we had no place to turn, we were hungry, embarrassed, and with tears in our eyes and heavy hearts, we called upon Hearts of Toti. I got hold of Kapp to explain our situation. Only someone who has been in a situation deemed ‘rock bottom’ truly understands the shame, embarrassment and sheer dread of making that call, pleading for help. We were once a well-off family, running a family business, successful and able to afford life’s expenses comfortably,” said Johnston*.
She said, unfortunately, life sometimes has a way of knocking you down completely, bringing you to your knees to humble you, forcing you to re-assess and re-evaluate what is important and what is not.
“Life hit us hard. Really hard. In a short period of a year, we lost our father, grandfather, our business and our livelihoods. We survived on odd jobs and selling up what we saw as unnecessary household clutter. It barely covered our expenses as we’re a large family of six,” said Johnston.
As time went by, jobs were few and far apart, while bills piled up, and the daily cost of simply surviving became unbearable. She said, “It was when we had absolutely nothing but dust bunnies in our grocery cupboard that we reached out to churches and various organisations. With a hard lump in my throat, I made numerous calls. If I wasn’t shamed and embarrassed enough, I was met with the strangest requirements needed to ‘qualify’ getting onto a food parcel list, and was treated with condescending and scolding attitudes.”
With not much faith or optimism, she made another call, this time to Hearts of Toti. After explaining to Kapp the predicament she and her family were in, she was met with the most sympathetic and welcoming personality – not a single judgement was passed.
“Within what seemed like minutes, I heard a hoot at my gate and was greeted as if we’d been friends forever. My children thought Christmas had indeed come early, as we received the most amazing food parcel and a goodie bag for each child, with stationery, toys and books. We are beyond blown away. Kapp has treated my family as one would treat their own, and the same can be said for Alta Erasmus and all the angels with Hearts of Toti,” said Johnston.
The organisation has since assisted them when life was just too much to bear, be it encouraging them, going out of their way to deliver food after hours, assisting and guiding on Sassa applications, getting their curriculum vitaes updated, job hunting and referrals and last but not least, simply caring.
She said, “These women and men deserve medals for the outstanding work they’re doing in our community, yet never request any recognition or applause even though they deserve it. They welcomed us with arms wide open and restored the dignity and pride we’d lost. Words are simply not enough to express the gratitude and love we have for all of them.”
The emotional mother and wife said they are slowly on their way back up and that their faith in humanity has been restored.
For more information, or to assist the family with work, donations or money, contact Shanay Kapp at 078 352 0555 or her WhatsApp line at 072 252 9910 or Alta Erasmus at 072 801 0746. To make a financial contribution, their banking details are: Hearts of Toti, FNB, Account number: 62897327344, Universal branch code: 250655.
*Not her real name.
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