Winter drive donates beds, blankets in Kraaifontein

Fourteen beds and more than 300 blankets were donated to the needy in Kraaifontein last Friday as part of a winter drive by a Windsor Park charity.

Lecille Poole, the director of Shirley Giving Hands, says they gave all the beds - donated by the ShackBuilder non-profit company - to families in the Vlak shanty town near Bonnie Brae.

The Bikers Church Cape Town donated most of the blankets, which were given to families in Scottsville, Northpine and Belmont Park.

“I realised that many people and children do not have blankets for the winter. They appreciate it even if it is an old or new blanket. I do it every year, and it's just growing and growing,” Ms Poole said.

She also runs a soup kitchen from her Windsor Park home and distributes pots of soup to 10 other soup kitchens in Scottsdene, Scottsville, Wallacedene, Klipheuwel and Bloekombos.

She is looking for volunteers who can help with transport as well as a venue where she can run after-school programmes for children.

Ms Pool said her outreach work was inspired by her grandmother, Shirley Mitchell, who died in 2019 as a result of breast cancer.

“She was the one in our family that helped a lot of people regardless of where you live, where you are from or what your problem is."