Food relief for scores of poor City residents

04 July 2016

 

More 200 indigent, poor, elderly and other vulnerable residents of Newlands and Sophiatown, in the City of Johannesburg’s Region B, were overjoyed when officials from the City’s Health and Social Development Department provided them with food hampers on Sunday July 3.

 

The food parcels had been handed over to the City for distribution among the poor by the Gift of Hope organisation as part of its celebration of the month of Ramadan.

During the handover of the food parcels at the Danie van Zyl Recreation Centre in Newlands, Simon Motsusi from the department’s Food Resilience Unit, said Executive Mayor Cllr Parks Tau wanted to ensure that no one in Johannesburg went to bed hungry and that families were able to put food on the table.

“As the City’s Health and Social Development Department, we are tasked with the responsibility to respond to social issues that members of the community are encountering,” he said.

“It’s not everyone who gets a food parcel, but only those who need them. Assessments were conducted to identify families struggling to put food on the table and assist them.”

He said one of the City’s main objectives was to make sure that people got the nutrients their bodies needed.

“We trust that these basic food items will make a difference in your lives,” said Motsusi.

He said the City’s Food Resilience Unit also handed out vegetables and food hampers in Ward 82 in the region every Wednesday to those who were food insecure. Elated recipient Alfred Mlambo said he was grateful for the food hampers because they meant his children would have something to eat before they went to bed.

 

“We are very lucky to have such a caring government, which ensures that our basic needs are met,” said Mlambo.

He said he was looking forward to this day after he received a call inviting him to go and receive his food hamper.