Madiba’s 93^rd birthday was celebrated by the rest of the world as part of the UN’s initiative to raise the spirit of sharing as way of making a difference to those who are poverty stricken. The WRC joined the initiative by showing kindness to over fifty homeless people living in Princess Park situated in Pretoria.

The occupants of the park normally sleep without anything to cover their bodies nor  food to eat if no ‘good Samaritans’ show up to meet their need.  The WRC joined hands with Shirley Machelesi, Cap-Net’s staff member, who started a soup kitchen with her family early this year seeing how desperate the people are in the Park. Ms Machelesi’s request for donations to sustain the soup kitchen was announced to some of the WRC staff members in May this year.

As part of Nelson Mandela’s 67 minutes, the WRC Social Club, under Pieter Smit’s leadership, gladly coordinated the donations in the form of food items clothes and blankets and also dedicated their lunch time to serve lunch to the homeless.  The staff’s reaction to this call was overwhelming and much needed soup ingredients and food were donated to this cause. The soup kitchen feeds people every Friday and the plan is to extend it to twice a week as time progresses.  Those who wish to continue with donations can contact Shirley at shirley.machelesi@cap-net.org .  In her own words Shirley thanked the WRC “My heartfelt gratitude goes to all the WRC staff for their generous contributions and support for today’s soup kitchen. May the spirit of Mandela day live on in our hearts even beyond today”.