The Ogle Foundation feeds 120 community members for Mandela Day
The hungry community members couldn't wait to dig into the food, and immediately after receiving their food they found a comfortable place to sit in the park and enjoyed their meals.
Every year, Nelson Mandela’s birthday is celebrated internationally by groups of charitable people doing something good for their community.
The Roodepoort residents and businesses showed their community spirit not only on Mandela Day (18 July) but throughout that entire weekend.
For one non-profit company (NPC), the weekend of outreaches started on Friday, 17 July at a park on the corner of Paul Kruger Avenue and 6th Avenue in Roodepoort North.
The Ogle Foundation NPC works year-round throughout the West Rand to try to provide support, help and development opportunities to less fortunate members of the community. They work to assist victims of all ages who have suffered any abuse, abandonment, and homelessness.
On that Friday, eight volunteers from the foundation brought their brightest smiles and open hearts to feed and clothe some of the most vulnerable community members in the area. Two tables were set up, along with two large pots of soup, 160 vetkoeks and sandwiches, and a variety of clothes for the community members.
The volunteers worked to ensure that the 120 community members who came to get a warm meal and clothes kept in line with social-distancing regulations. The volunteers also made sure that every person in attendance was registered, sanitized and screened before approaching the tables.
The hungry community members couldn’t wait to dig into the food, and immediately after receiving their food they found a comfortable place to sit in the park and enjoyed their meals. The volunteers and community members shared happy conversation as the day went by and more people were fed. Once they were done with their food, those who needed to could go to the area where the foundation had put all of the collected clothes and take what they wanted. The foundation’s volunteers were ecstatic because every person who needed something was able to get it. As an NPC, all initiatives by the Ogle Foundation are done with the help of community donations and volunteers.
Patty Ogle, the organisation’s founder, shared her immense gratitude that businesses in the area and community members came forward to help with donations and volunteer work. The 20 loaves of bread donated by Victor and Son Café, as well as the soup ingredients from the community, went a long way in helping to feed the vulnerable attendees. Patty also wanted to say a huge thank you to the members of the Golden Harvest Evangelical Fellowship who kindly donated all the clothes that the community members could take with them.
Apart from their feeding project, which runs throughout the year, the Ogle Foundation also collects sanitary towels for young girls and desperate women, and they have started a sewing class where people can come in and learn a new skill and then sell what they make for extra income.
If you would like to volunteer for the foundation or can donate any food, clothing, sanitary towels, or sewing equipment, please contact Patty on 076 313 2247.
