Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?

SOUL FOOD

The Soul Provider Trust has recently had its attention drawn to the enormous amount of perfectly edible food that is disposed of by hotels, restaurants, casinos and entertainment venues.

The problem is that it has been paid for and is just written off.  It is easier and cheaper to dump it than to deliver it to where it is desperately needed.

The stated purpose of The Soul Provider Trust is to Make God Visible in the World.  We can’t think of any more appropriate way of doing this than by feeding the starving.  We have therefore established a project that can liaise with these venues, collect the surplus food and deliver it to orphanages, shelters and feeding schemes and schools that we already have a relationship with.

Soul Food has started on a small scale in Johannesburg and aims to expand the project as our resources grow.  We currently support 27 places of refuge/orphanages/shelters and feed about 2500 people every day.  We have identified the following agencies as our initial points of delivery:

Berea Mercy Shelter
85 Tudhope Avenue Berea
Caring for about 20 abused women

Bethany Shelter
Corner Millbourn Road and Viljoen Street, Bertrams, Johannesburg, Gauteng
For abused women. No Fee.

Bienvenu Shelter for Women and Children
36 Terrace Road, Bertrams, Johannesburg
25 mothers and 23 children (0 to 8 years) 95% refugees
Creche 30 children  3-6 years
Baby Room with 25 babies

Cathedral of Christ the King Soup Kitchen
Saratoga Avenue Joubert Park, Johannesburg, Gauteng

Daughters of Zion (May Thaysen)
38 Fouche Road, Klipspruit West
Unemployed families in Meredale, Eldorado Park and Westbury.

Ekhaya Overnight Shelter
Corner Quartz and Kotze Streets, Hillbrow, Johannesburg, Gauteng
Men and women but no children. 

Emmanuel Homes
78 Millbourn Road, Lorentzville
20 students, mostly foreigners.

Freda Hartley Shelter for Women
97 Regent Street Yeoville, Johannesburg, Gauteng
For women only.
No Fee 

The House
60 Olivia Road Berea, Johannesburg, Gauteng
For girls between 12 and 18 years only.
Three month limit.

Immaculata Mercy Centre
17 Sturdee Avenue Rosebank, Johannesburg
Single men.

Jabulani Khakibos Kids Centre
1 High Street Berea, Johannesburg, Gauteng
For boys who have been on the street 

Kids Haven
Reaches out to children on the streets and others in need in our community.
Strives to provide them with love and shelter in a nurturing, secure environment.
Gives them guidance, therapy, training and support so that they can be the best they can be and take their rightful place in the community.
For children.
Little Saints of Bethany
58 Millbourn Road, Bertrams
17 abused women, 15 children (4 months to 10 years old)

Meals on Wheels
69 Mullen Street, Yeoville
Delivers 200 meals each day to the elderly and disabled.  Daily soup kitchen for 100 people.  220 students collect food daily.

Mother Teresa Mission (Missionaries of Charity)
76 St George St Bellevue East
8 Nuns
60 children 1 week to 4 years, boys and girls
40 sick women, 25 sick men and 3 teenagers
Feed and look after 400 families in Soweto and regularly visit 30 families each week

Place of Refuge
Diagonal Street La Rochelle, Johannesburg, Gauteng
For men and women
 
Roman Catholic Cathedral Soup Kitchen
Corner Bosman and Skinner Streets, Pretoria, Gauteng

Salvation Army Soup Kitchen
Church Square, Pretoria, Gauteng,

St Peter’s Operation Relief Program
St Peter’s Anglican Church Parkview, Johannesburg, Gauteng

Strabane Mercy Centre
98 Kerk Street, Johannesburg, Gauteng.Only men and women over 30 years of age.

Trinity Congregation Church Soup Kitchen
Corner Muller and Bedford Streets Yeoville, Johannesburg, Gauteng 

Usindiso Sanctuary
80 Albert Street Marshalltown, Johannesburg, Gauteng. For abused women - especially those with children. Capacity for 85 women. Fee: R60 per month

Fremar Christian Centre
70 3rd Ave, The Hill, Johannesburg, Gauteng


The Soul Food Staff
The Soul Provider Trust has put together the following team to initiate the Soul Food project:

Julia Lamberti – is the (honorary) Project Champion and has been the driving force behind its conceptualisation.  She is heavily involved in sourcing food from retailers, hotels, casinos and hotels.

Roger Hein – Soul Food Manager.  He organises and manages the logistics of this operation.  His job is to ensure that the surplus food is collected and delivered timeously to where it is needed most on a roster basis.

Contact Roger on 083-776-3333 or soulfood@mysoulprovider.org

The Soul Food Benefactors and Supporters

Mark McCreedy  - McCreedy Friedlander

Mark Lamberti - Transaction Capital

Mary Johnson - Pick n Pay

Kirsten Morgendaal - Regus

Peter Lombard - Weight Watchers

Desagen Moodley: Super Jumbo Crown Mines

Kissinger Maponya - Massmart Holdings

Tyrone Whittaker - Metcash

Sean Maher - Protea Hotels

Tom Miles - Imagine.

We have secured a delivery vehicle through a major donation from a Johannesburg businessman.

However we are still in need of further funding to pay the staff members and expand the operation to other desperate areas of need.

If you can help in any way (if you have excess food, if you know of a need for food or if you can spare some funding to make it all happen) then please contact Rev Brent Chalmers at brent@mysoulprovider.org or on 0828922222.