“Bless Them”: Eastern Cape Woman Giving Food to Young Kids Melts Hearts As Community Struggles

• A Port Elizabeth ward councillor shared a video showing two women handing out food to children
• The volunteers used recyclable plastic containers to pack and provide meals to the young kids who depended on the soup kitchen for food
• Netizens reacted and shared blessings and good wishes for the women who were helping to feed the hungry children

Ward councillor for Ward 12 in Nelson Mandela Bay, Vernon Boggenpoel, shared a video on 8 October 2025, showing two women handing out food to hungry children in the community.

The clip was shared with a caption that quoted Arthur Ashe:

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can."

Both women were standing next to a small building behind a broken wall, where they had a table set up with recyclable plastic containers on the tables. These containers were used to dish up meals for the young children from the community.

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One of the women works in the soup kitchen and helps prepare the food, while the other woman joined to assist her with handing out the meals to the children. The post received over 1000 reactions, with many people commenting to share good wishes for those doing this important work, especially in a community that has a large number of people in need.

Vernon Boggenpoel wrote about the women who work in the soup kitchens, volunteering every day, in another post where he said:

"In our soup kitchen, every hand that stirs a pot or serves a meal tells a story. We are proud to have volunteers from all corners of life different cultures, ages, and experiences who are united by a shared goal."

Netizens support the soup kitchen volunteers

Social media users flooded the comments with blessings for the women and children:

@Des Goodwin wrote:

"Bless the children, bless the givers."

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@Judy Malgas said:

"GOD bless you, ladies 🙏🙌❤️."

@Joy Blankenberg gushed:

"May God bless you for being a blessing 🙏."

@Bonnie Poysden added:

"Awesome."

Eastern Cape's hardship worsens

The clip shared by Facebook user @vernon.boggenpoel.2025 was shared at a time when the Eastern Cape is facing serious economic problems.

According to some of the stats by the DA, the latest quarterly Labour Force survey shows that the province's economic crisis is worsening. There are sharp job losses and an ever-increasing unemployment rate across various sectors.

Every job lost in the Eastern Cape could mean that a child goes to bed hungry and a parent is forced to choose between food and other necessities. There is a growing sense of hopelessness spreading through communities across the Eastern Cape due to tourism challenges, job losses and companies like Mercedes downscaling.

Watch the Facebook clip here.

More South Africans feeding communities

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• Briefly News recently reported on Young, Famous and African reality TV star Nadia Nakai and her friends gathered to start a food drive initiative.
• A Western Cape woman shared an emotional video thanking South Africans for helping her feed 133 hungry people.
• A kind woman showed how she and her team prepared 78 hotdog meals for people in need, spending less than R1000.

Source: Briefly News