Family to keep Michaela’s legacy of kindness alive with 30th birthday food drive
Michaela quietly helped many people during her lifetime. Now, as she would have celebrated her 30th birthday, they hope to honour her memory through a milk and bread drive.
Tayla Smit
The family of Michaela Moonsamy Yellapan only realised the extent of the lives she had touched through her kindness and generosity when she died.
Now, they hope to continue her legacy by giving back to those in need in her memory.
Michaela’s family will host a milk and bread drive on November 15, a day after what would have been her 30th birthday, to honour her passion for helping others.
The drive will take place opposite the Actonville municipal office at 15:00. Community members are invited to contribute towards providing essential food supplies to families in need.
The 27-year-old Benoni resident was fatally shot at the Key Largo Centre in Boksburg in the early hours of May 18, 2024. Brandon Govendor was subsequently charged in connection with her murder. The matter is still ongoing, and he is expected to appear in court again on November 20.
This forms part of the Michaela Moonsamy Foundation, established under King Jesus Living Word Ministries non-profit company, to continue Michaela’s vision of uplifting and supporting individuals and families in the community.
According to Michaela’s brother, Jeremy Moonsamy, the family only fully realised the magnitude of the impact she had on others after her death.
“She helped a lot of people behind closed doors. People told us afterwards how she used to assist them with food parcels and stuff like that. Her funeral was the biggest funeral we had in the family, and it is because of how many lives she touched,” said Jeremy.
Jeremy said that Michaela had always had a heart for helping others, even from a young age.
“Even in her schooling days, she helped others where possible. Her passion for helping others further grew when our family visited India in 2011. Our entire family held food drives, among other things, to assist people,” he added.
He said helping children and supporting homes for abused women were particularly close to Michaela’s heart.
“This is why we started the Michaela Moonsamy Foundation. We want to honour her legacy of compassion. Together we can make a big difference.”
For the family, the initiative is also a way of keeping Michaela’s memory alive by continuing the work she deeply cared about.
Jeremy acknowledged that losing his sister continues to take an emotional toll on the family.
“It doesn’t get any easier; you just learn to live with it. The wounds just open up every time we go into the courtroom or when there is a funeral. No one will understand how it feels to lose a loved one in this manner until it happens to them.”
For more information, contact Jeremy on 081 493 3146 or Pastor Jason on 084 823 4693.
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