Pat Pillay lost her husband to cancer so she channelled her grief into helping others… she started feeding the homeless warm meals and it has grown into something special.
Cape Town, South Africa – Pat Pillay lost her husband to cancer after only two months of marriage. She needed to channel her grief into something good so she started cooking meals for the homeless.
Now, three years later, Pat cooks meals for around 500 people twice a week. With the help of volunteers, they are able to supply delicious and nutritious meals. Pat has built an army of volunteers who cut vegetables, cook the meals and distribute them to the homeless. Sundays they serve a delicious vegetable briyani so the ingredients they use are always the same.
Pat honoured her late husband Rodney by naming the charity after him. She says serving meals has brought her peace. When she started her feeding scheme, it was small but today it has grown into something life-changing. Since starting, they have served over 25,000 meals to the homeless.
“We have now also been able to provide casual work to 2 unemployed and 1 homeless lady just to assist them with at least putting bread on the table. They help us every Sunday for our Lunch with Love Service and do so with pride, dignity and hope.”
Her motto is “Love all, serve all” and she believes homelessness isn’t a choice. They make the biggest impact during the colder months. Many of the homeless they help have said they arrive cold and leave feeling warmed with love.
The two feeding days include a warm meal on Sundays and porridge mornings on Thursdays. This month they celebrated the accomplishment of having their very own space.
“We now have our very own space to store our stock and make the logistics of our Service with Love easier for us as we Serve over 600 meals each week incl Thursdays and Sundays. When it’s right, things really and truly just happen. Thank you for Believing in RPJ Helping Hands and coming out each week to Serve the growing need and do our bit to make this world more humane with our simple Act of Kindness… Bless you All”
If you would like to get involved, you can contact Pat via the non-profits Facebook page. You can take a look at some of the meals they have served below.
They welcome donations weekly which include the following:
- Mielie Meal – 30kg per month
- Peanut Butter – 4kg per month
- Margarine – 15 x 500g
- Rice 120kg per month
- Oil – 8L per month
- Juices – 16 x 5l Cordials per month
- 1600 disposable plates / polyfoam Tubs/Trays or similar – per month
- 500 x 250ml polyfoam cups or similar
- Bananas /Oranges 500 pieces per week
- Bread 200 loaves per month
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