Community of Hope Multipurpose Centre still open despite funding blow

The Community of Hope Multipurpose Centre in Reiger Park, formerly known as the Reiger Park Crisis Centre, continues to keep its doors open despite a devastating blow.

The organisation has not received funding from the Department of Social Development (DSD) since January.

According to centre manager Elaine Appies, this is the first time in the organisation’s long-standing history that it has been unable to provide food assistance to the community.

The reason for the lack of funding, she admits, is due to the centre’s failure to submit its financial audit on time.

“That’s the main reason our funding was cut. We acknowledge that mistake, but we’ve started the new financial year and are working hard to fix the issues. Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for things to be resolved.

“It has set us back tremendously. We haven’t received any funds since the beginning of the year, and that means we can’t pay staff or offer food parcels to the many families that rely on us,” said Appies.

The centre, which has served the Reiger Park community and surrounding informal settlements for many years, has always been a critical safety net for the area’s most vulnerable. Over the years, it has provided meals, food parcels, counselling, and referrals to individuals and families in crisis.

“More and more people show up at our gates. Some of them had never needed food aid before but now had no other option. Our numbers grew rapidly.

“The recent disruption in funding has made it nearly impossible to meet that growing demand. We are still here, our doors are still open, but we can’t provide food like we used to. We can only offer counselling and referral services at this point,” said Appies.

Despite these challenges, the team at Community of Hope remains committed to serving the public.

“We’re not going to sit back and give up. Our mission is to bring hope, and we will continue to do what we can with the little we have. Even though we can’t give people food, we still give them a listening ear, a safe space, and emotional support.”

Appies is appealing to individuals, local businesses, and organisations to assist in any way they can, whether through food donations, financial contributions, or volunteer support.

“We need the community now more than ever. Together, we can keep the spirit of hope alive in Reiger Park.”

Anyone interested in helping can contact Appies on 072 127 9090.

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