3000 kids fed ahead of big day

[caption id="attachment_38217" align="alignright" width="405"] GOOD DEED: Ranika Rungan hands out bread to children from Walmer township yesterday. Picture: EUGENE COETZEE[/caption]

MORE than 3000 hungry tummies of children in Port Elizabeth's Walmer township were filled yesterday as an automotive company kicked off Mandela Day three weeks ahead of July 18.

V&R Auto, on the corner of 6th Avenue and Community Street, invited clients, family, and friends to get busy feeding 3067 children for 67 minutes yesterday.

Hungry children from all over the township braved the cold in warm beanies and torn shoes for a cup of soup, sandwiches and sweets.

Bongani Singi, 12, said: "I live in a shack with my mother and three brothers.

"My mother does housework for aunties in Walmer, but some days there's no work for her to do and no food for us to eat.

"We are happy for [yesterday's] food, but I wish these nice people could feed us every day."

Running their Mandela Day Project earlier this year to remind other businesses to do the same on Madiba's actual birthday, V&R upped the number of tummies to feed from 1067 in 2012 and 2067 last year.

Spokeswoman Ranika Rungan said: "Working near to the township, we are aware of the high level of poverty and see hungry kids every day."

John Masiza Primary School Grade 4 pupil Mawethu Klaas, 9, said he was happy somebody had remembered them.

"I wish tata Mandela could have lived forever. He is the reason why people do good – even for us, the poor children from Walmer.

"One day when I'm big I want to be like him. I want to be a lawyer so I have a lot of money to feed hungry children." - Alvené du Plessis