The Central City’s community of streetpeople will have some festive cheer this holiday season, thanks to one of the Cape Town Central City Improvement District’s (CCID) partner NGOs, The Carpenter’s Shop.
As The Service Dining Rooms are taking their annual break from 14 December to 14 January, The Carpenter’s Shop – which provides ablution facilities, a second phase shelter, life skills and job readiness training as well as other basic relevant services – will step in during this time to make sure that food security is not another worry for the Central City’s community of street people. The organisation will also still provide ablution facilities on certain days during the festive period.
Throughout the rest of the year, The Service Dining Rooms’ facility plays an important role by providing hundreds of meals a day. However, as the NGO’s team also takes a break from December to early January, this then leaves a huge gap as many homeless people end up without access to food during this already tough period. Fortunately, for the third festive season in a row, The Carpenter’s Shop will be able to fill the gap.
Says Janet Chadwick, coordinator for The Carpenter’s Shop’s festive season campaign: “Last year, we did a magnificent meal on Christmas Day and we even managed to hand out gifts for the children. We would be thrilled to have individuals and organisations partnering with us to make it all possible again.
“As such, we would like assistance with donations – R100 feeds 10 people and R3000 will cover an entire day. We would also like to encourage people to volunteer to help us set up and engage with our clients while providing delicious meals to amazing people.”
According to Pat Eddy, manager of CCID Social Development, it is heartening that The Carpenter’s Shop will be able to fill in the gap once again this year and provide some festive relief for the Central City’s community of streetpeople.
“No act is too small; every little bit helps. We encourage everyone to assist and contribute towards giving our community of streetpeople a sense of belonging and sharing and the ability to socialise during this time.”
If you’d like to assist The Carpenter’s Shop, visit www.thecarpentersshop.org.za.