Since its formation in 2001, Ponelopele Drop-in Centre has been a beacon of hope for the destitute in Alexandra, North of Johannesburg.
Ponelopele which means to foresee in SeSotho is a Non-Profitmaking Organization (NPO), a brainchild of sixty-five-year-old, Salaminah Mashigo, who started this noble initiative through her government issued disability grant and the organisation has grown over the years through donations and sponsorships.
When President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national lockdown in March with the aim of containing the spread of Coronavirus the drop-in centre reached out to scores of residents of Alexandra who could not feed themselves as a result of lockdown. 
It distributed 210 food parcels to people doing recycling, 20 Day Care Centres, 390 unemployed, 95 retrenched and recently 250 needy families in Ward 105, East Bank.
Ponelopele Chairperson and head of projects Patrick Baloyi said, "All this we do with the assistance of private donors and the help of the Gauteng Department of Social Development. If it was not their generosity, we were not going to be able to achieve half of what we have done".
Baloyi added that needy families in this community are forced to sleep on empty stomach since lockdown, others have lost their jobs and those who were running small businesses lost their income.
"To date, we have been working with the department and community leaders to identify those families in need. The project is not just a once-off, we will come back again to distribute more food parcels to those who didn't get earlier," Baloyi promised.
He appealed to the business community and individual donors to lend a helping hand in the fight against hunger by donating to those in need during this trying time.
Ecstatic beneficiary Mirriam Sibeko (28), a mother of two kids speaking to the Bulletin said, "I'm grateful for having received a food parcel from Ponelopele Centre because after I was retrenched at work two months ago, we are struggling as a family without an income".
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