Maidenhead Salvation Army reaches out to homeless in South Africa

Local church is helping to fund overseas project in addition to the help and support given to people here in the UK

The Salvation Army in Maidenhead is reaching out to homeless and hungry people in South Africa by supporting a project that gives soup and brunch to those in need.

Members of the local church in East Road have raised more than £3,000 to help fund The Salvation Army in Cape Town’s work with destitute and undernourished people in the Goodwood area of the city by offering what for many is their only meal of the day.

The programme is run mostly by Christian volunteers and provides soup and brunch for around 100 people five days a week. This includes people like 46-year-old Lesedi Fick who lives in the shanty area of Cape Town and like many men of his age cannot find work to sustain himself. What little money he can earn by selling rubbish as recyclable material from the city’s refuge dump he uses to buy rice and beans for his wife and two daughters.

In addition to work in Cape Town, The Salvation Army in Maidenhead continues to support homeless and hungry people closer to home in the town it serves by offering Sunday lunch and regular food parcels. Christmas gives additional opportunity to provide needy children and families with presents.

Major Keith White, leader of The Salvation Army in Maidenhead, said: ‘the corps band visited Cape Town in 2003 and forged lasting relationships with Salvation Army colleagues at corps and community centres in the city.

‘Since then we have also been supporting the school feeding programme run at Mitchells Plain, a deprived township area in Cape Town. Responsibility for that project has been taken over by the South African government and we have decided to help our colleagues with the community centre work in Goodwood.’

The cost of running the programme at Goodwood is around SAR 6,000 (approximately £390) per month, half of which is paid by a government subsidy, the remainder being met by local Salvation Army funds.

Maidenhead Corps is now providing financial support for this project and to date enough money has been raised to fund the programme for 12 months. In addition a much-needed stove has been bought.

For more information and to donate to the cause contact Major White on 01628 625914.

Visit Maidenhead Salvation Army’s website for more information on Sunday worship and weekly community programme.

You can learn more about the project on Youtube