“This is how I know God is alive.”
These were the words of a homeless man as he described the scene on a Park Drive corner where Nelson Mandela Bay’s fourth annual Street Store pop-up shop was hosted at the weekend.
The collaboration between City Lights Church in Walmer Downs and Covenant Grace Church in Summerstrand, along with Love Story and nonprofit organisation Keep Caring, saw thousands of items of clothing draping fencing.
Hundreds of homeless people browsed for new outfits and enjoyed a cup of hot soup.
The Street Store is a community-driven event that was started in Cape Town in 2014, with the aim of providing good quality second-hand clothing free to the homeless, in a setting where they can choose clothing they actually like.
Ashwin Grootboom, 30, who has been homeless for five years and lives under a bridge in the Baakens River Valley, said the event had changed his perception of Bay residents.
“A lot of the time we are rejected or just waved off when we ask for something, but seeing what is happening here makes me see the people of this city in a new light,” he said.
“Every day we [homeless] have to face dangerous situations and live very difficult lives, but this is how I know God is alive, because his people have not forgotten about us.”
Patricia Jikani, 38, a homeless woman who calls an abandoned building in Central home, said the manner in which they were treated at the store was heartwarming.“We [homeless] aren’t even allowed into most clothing stores and if we are, people always give you funny looks.
“But today I felt so important, these people treated me like I had money. I could exchange the clothes I didn’t like – almost like I bought them myself,” Jikani said.
Street Store team coordinator Sara Thackwray said the event received an overwhelming response through many donations, with hands ready to receive them.
“This morning [Saturday] when we arrived, there were already people waiting here.
“Judging by Bay residents’ willingness to help, it is not only those receiving items who have been looking forward to the event,” Thackwray said.
“We received thousands of items of clothing. And well before the store opened we tallied more than 300 people ready to collect an outfit.”
She said the event’s popularity was largely due to Love Story – which runs daily soup kitchens in the Bay – spreading the word beforehand.