Welcome relief for Durban homeless centre
As many Durbanites struggled to find basic food items during the unrest, the Denis Hurley Centre says it was also worried about how it would feed the homeless during that difficult week.
The church-based group breathed a sigh of relief when a six-tonne donation came through.
Supermarket chain SPAR diverted some of their trucks to give to charity when they couldn't deliver produce due to the looting and violence.
The centre received 920 crates of fresh produce, breads and cakes.
It sorted and separated the food, then shared it with 25 other organisations in the city, including children's homes, retirement facilities, hospices and refugee centres.
Director Raymond Perrier says the food arrived as their worries about being able to provide meals were growing.
READ: Berea Primary School celebrates 100th birthday
"It was a great relief to us that we had a supply of food to cover us for almost two weeks and also these other organisations.
"SPAR was so generous in letting this food available. It's not food that they could sell which is why is wasn't going into the stores and it would have been the easiest thing in the world for them just to dump it, but they realised that it would be terribly wasteful to dump it and that's why they delivered it to us and make sure it was distributed to worthy causes."
The Denis Hurley Centre serves up to 350 meals a day.
It also provides showers for the homeless and a clinic.
