Cape Town - A call for donations has gone out to keep the wheels of a passion project rolling as two sisters assist poverty-stricken families.
Jade Glenn (née Damonse), 29, and her sister, Alyssa Damonse, 19, started Drives by the Damonses after they became aware of the plight of families and residents who needed help after the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Glenn said their passion project started in 2020 during the hard lockdown when “more people became unemployed or desperate”.
“At first it started when family members reached out to my parents and thereafter it was church members.
“It was concerning that the situation was so dire when we would have normally thought these are people who are well off or by the means to make ends meet, but the effects of Covid were that harsh.
“We started with a soup kitchen in Elsies River and people reached out to us to say they needed help and we would try our best to.
“Things have now returned to somewhat of normalcy, however, we still have families who were not able to get back on their feet or who were placed in desperate situations and sometimes this changes.
“Some months they would say that things were okay and they managed to get by, but other months they would reach out again and we would try to assist as best we can,” said Glenn.
In an attempt to secure funding or donations, the sisters registered their project as an non-profit organisation last year.
“People heard about us through word of mouth and would then get in touch for assistance. We have since adopted about eight families who get assistance from us through monthly grocery drop-offs while we also run a weekly soup kitchen at our church, St Matthews in Elsies River.
“The beneficiaries are families from Delft, Belhar, Uitsig, Bishop Lavis and Bonteheuwel. Every month we have to hustle to make sure we can assist and it costs about R250 per family to get the very basic needs.
“These past two months we have been able to make use of the Shoprite combo special where you get six basic items for R99 and that has really helped us a lot,” said Glenn.
And while the siblings’ efforts are not taken for granted, Glenn said they do not do it for self-gratification.
“We have one lady that we assist every month as she is on a disability grant and she cries every month we come in there, grateful for our help.”
Anyone wanting to assist #DrivesByTheDamonses can contact Jade Glenn at 073 506 2292 or email [email protected]
Here are the details to make monetary donations: Capitec, account number 1579653624, account holder: J Damonse. See Facebook at www.facebook.com/damonsedrives
Cape Times