Durban Heroes: The Raz Ali Foundation has served 300k meals since lockdown started
"“What was going to happen to all those people? Who was going to feed them and how? The city could not do it alone."
When the hard lockdown first hit last year it was tough for everyone. It was the shock that it brought that really scared many South Africans, and the fact that it was affecting the entire world was even more scary.
People were acting out of fear and were bulk shopping, scared that they may run out of food and resources. But what about the people in our communities that rely on others for their meals, those people that couldn't bulk buy or prepare for the lockdown?
Well, one Durbanite stood up and decided that he needed to be the spokesperson for the sometimes forgotten part of society. The people that live out on the streets and literally don't know where their next meal will be coming from.
Raz Ali is the owner of Boss UIP Security Specialists and he thought: "What was going to happen to all those people? Who was going to feed them and how? The city could not do it alone." (IOL)
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He then thought of a way to help by setting up the Raz Ali Foundation. The sole aim of the foundation was to ensure that no one in the beachfront and the Central Durban areas would go without food.
"What started initially as 400 meals a day grew to 1000 by the second week of April 2020 as Ali got his friends and other business owners to join the feeding initiative. A friend of his donated 300 000 stickers that had his foundation logo on it which was placed on all the meals handed out." (IOL)
Raz used the 300,000 stickers as his indicator to record how many meals were served in just over a year. That is how he has managed to record that over 300,000 meals were served. His foundation has worked closely with homeless shelters to ensure that they had food daily, providing them with over 400 meals a day.
In addition, he has partnered with the local hotels near the beachfront area, who have donated their old linen, bath towels, as well as toiletries to the less fortunate. They also helped with blankets during Winter.
The Raz Ali Foundation is just a vehicle we use to ensure that people do not go hungry. The true heroes are all our sponsors all of whom do not do this for the glory but because of their love for their fellow man and wanting to do good in this world.
Image Courtesy of Facebook