Ruth and Cenci, “the Chef”, work very hard on the streets of Pretoria North taking care of the homeless. Every day after work they start preparing meals for close to 200 people and then start doing their rounds at eight in the evening. Not only do they feed these people sleeping in the streets, but they also find donations in all forms to clothe them, assist them with finding jobs, finding accommodation, organise lifts when needed – mainly to hospitals when needed and sometimes to job interviews, and even educate when the need arises.
Their ultimate goal is to find suitable space from where they can run a shelter offering these street people accommodation and meals they can return to after their day in the sun working as car guards, recyclers, and simply walking the streets trying to find employment.
This couple is NOT a registered NPO but simply do what they feel is the right thing to do – uplift their community.
The costs to cover the following most basic needs easily runs into R5000 to R10000 PER WEEK :
- Food.
- Electricity to prepare food.
- Fuel to distribute the food.
- Medical supplies to attend to minor injuries.
- A multitude of other expenses for example polystyrene containers to dish up in.
Every now-and-then they are also surprised by unexpected expense like a car that breaks down and needs to be fixed.
Ruth and Cenci do receive some monetary donations every week from donors worldwide, and also a large number of local food donations. However, they still sponsor a large portion of these costs themselves.
