Team takes care of 12 families after fires

[caption id="attachment_210490" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Hat-wearing Matthew Calitz, Clarisha Bailey, young Iglesias Fortuin, Project 12’s Ray Neethling, with red collar, and Elzabe Boshoff of Project 12, holding young Whitney Petrus.
Picture: Eugene Coetzee[/caption]

While the raging fires that devastated a section of Nelson Mandela Bay have long since died, a small team of good Samaritans has been working hard behind the scenes to assist displaced families and animals.

For the past month, this small group has been sorting and collecting donations of clothing, bedding and food to assist 12 underprivileged and uninsured families who lost everything.

They have also now started collecting animal feed for more than 30 cows in the area that no longer have anywhere suitable to graze due to the scorched grass, and have started collecting sugar to feed bees after their hives were destroyed.

Elzabe Boshoff, of St George’s College, and Ray Neethling, of Eastern Cape Motors, joined forces after they were both involved in the call for donations for residents affected by the fires in Knysna.

“When the fires hit Knysna we became involved in that relief, so when the fires later hit PE we became involved in sourcing help for people affected,” Boshoff said.

“That was when the Fires Port Elizabeth group was started on Facebook. We found each other and joined our efforts. It did not make sense to work separately.”

Boshoff was also involved in accommodating Woodridge College hostel pupils and grounds staff at St George’s College after they were displaced by the fires.

Meanwhile, the Rev Matthew Calitz, caretaker of the African Evangelistic Band missionary centre, Hebron, near Woodridge, opened his doors to 59 people displaced by the fires, as well as to relief firefighters.

Soon Boshoff, Neethling and Calitz started working together, an arrangement that continues as Calitz still accommodates 20 people at the centre, rent-free, after they lost their homes and possessions.

“That was how Project 12 started. There are 12 families displaced by the fire. We did a needs analysis and these families were 100% verified,” Boshoff said.

The 12 families are from the Thornhill, Rocklands, Van Stadens and Witteklip areas. Neethling said there had been a dire need for someone to narrow down relief efforts, as various organisations and individuals were offering help. This was why Project 12 had been formed. “Also, some people had said they were collecting for [certain] communities when that was not the case,” he said.

Calitz said: “Whatever donations come in must be distributed fairly. These people have lost everything and the 12 families we are assisting were not insured for this loss.” He said while accommodating the additional people, the centre had run up a water and electricity bill of R9 000.

Boshoff said Project 12 had received donations of clothing and linen but still required construction materials so that people could start rebuilding their homes, as well as animal feed for more than 30 cows.

“Whatever we receive in excess is redistributed. We have given items to other organisations that assist people as we do not want anything to go to waste.”

Calitz, who grows organic vegetables and keeps beehives at the missionary centre, said he had lost 15 of his hives in the blaze.

“I now go through 5kg of sugar every two days [feeding the bees].”