Community groups work together to help Ivory Park residents

The Indian Telugu Expat SA Community and the Church of Scientology partnered up to donate food parcels to the Ivory Park community on 8 April.

The organisations approached their respective communities to donate in order to create food parcels to assist the Ivory Park community during the lockdown. They were able to gather 1 000 food parcels that could assist a family of four for a week. They dropped the packages at the Apostolic Faith Mission Church in Ivory Park with the assistance of the Metro police, where they would be distributed to the various points in the local community.

Spokesperson for the Indian Telugu Expat SA Community Raghu Kalakonda said, “What is happening with the South African economy is terrible and a lot of day labourers are struggling during the lockdown. Many of them have not earned money for the past month… We came together and wanted to assist because a lot of people are living hand to mouth.

“We have an emergency situation globally… But South Africa is on its toes, so it’s important for us to help so everyone can pass through this pandemic.”

Manager of the project from the Church of Scientology, Theresa Hurter said that the church and Indian Telugu Expat Community had worked together in various projects previously and came together to assist with the food parcels.

Ward 79 councillor Thomas Maluleke said, “The lockdown has made it difficult for people to move and get food. This donation is a complete blessing. A lot of people have been asking where their next meal will come from, and these two organisations came together to answer that question.”

Details: Indian Telugu Expat SA Community Indianexpatssa.covid19@gmail.com