R5 Food Drive Project - Northridge 117

What started off being a nice quiet, bright but yet chilly morning soon turned into a massively active and productive day.

I started my morning like I do any other, with my usual cup of coffee but before I even finished it this time round, I already went outside the house to start loading the car while drinking my coffee. I just couldn’t bring myself to wait any longer to go and gather food from the community to help those in need.

As quick as I possibly could, I packed my car with the Area Gazebo, and an area pull up banner and a whole bunch of other goodies I was planning on using during the day since this event was also going to be our monthly social for my clubhouse (NRT117).

Around 8am I already stopped at the Ruimsig shopping center in front of the Spar. Immediately I got to it and started to set up our spot in the parking lot before cars start to arrive otherwise, we won’t get a good spot once they start to park.

As soon as I started to unload the car, the car guards immediately came to my aid to help me set it all up without me even asking since we’ve been there before and also since they actually recognized the rondel. I found it very heart warning that the guards all knew the rondel by now and immediately came to help me set up because of it. The rondel is recognized in times and places when you sometimes least expect it.

Not long after I got the Gazebo and branding set up, my fellow tablers started to arrive. From there the fun started!

I’m sure you all know the drill of a standard R5 project by now…. You give someone a R5 and you tell them they can either keep it, or they can put it towards buying something nonperishable. If they keep the R5 coin, then you know the person probably really needed it and then you still helped someone out either way.

The parking very quickly started to buzz and people started to make their way towards the Spar. We made sure to try and talk to as many people as possible to tell them what we’re doing. Most smiled and wanted to participate in the event. Many of these folks would tell us to keep the R5 coin, they will just go into Spar and buy stuff without it which is heartwarming to say the least. Some folks came out with bags of stuff! This would not just be your standard food cans, they really got creative this time round. The items we got ranged from your standard items like rice and maize meal and then also extended to other more interesting times some of us did not even think of like Soap and Oats.

All in all this was a good project and a good day to spend with some of my fellow Tablers. We were able to successfully gather R5000’s worth of food in only 3-4 hours. Thank to my fellow tablers, Midrand 253 and the Ladies Circle Santon 24 for assisting on the day.

- Mahatma