“Seva (Sanskrit): selfless service, work performed without any thought of reward or repayment. This, is the art of giving with no need to receive, where the act itself is a gift to everyone involved.”
When the CallForce Cape Town Energy Team launched in 2019, we immediately knew that we wanted to be involved. Driving and participating in community involvement and upliftment projects for our centre was the one thing that really called to us.
Ladles of Love is a community project dedicated to feeding hungry people in Cape Town. It was founded by Daniele Diliberto after he was inspired to create something to give back to the community in 2014. I did a little research about the organization and the work that they do. I read up and watched videos of the projects they run. I was so inspired by Daniele Diliberto’s (Founder of Ladles of Loves) story – I knew that this was something we had to get involved with AND it is literally on our doorstep! We have often seen the soup kitchen in operation on Tuesdays, queues and queues of homeless people lining up to collect soup and bread, the hubbub of it all as we left the office on our way home.
On Tuesday 23rd April the Cape Town CallForce Centre sponsored a soup kitchen run by Ladles of Love in St Georges Mall, Cape Town. At 17:30 a group of staff members and I made our way over to our meeting place to be prepped for what was about to transpire. We set up and started serving. Let me tell you, these guys run a tight ship. Some of were pouring juice, some where cutting bread and placing them in soup bowls and other were simply moving soup bowl around while a few were handing them out to homeless people – a well-organized production line. We served people for about an hour, a record-breaking 412 meals! A first ever for Ladles of Love. Well done CallForce, well done.
I worked along side a woman who frequently does volunteer work. She was busy ladling warm soup. The soup often splashed over the sides of the bowls and onto her gloved hands and forearms and it was evident that she was just itching to wipe it off. She said that every time she does volunteer work, she realizes that you lose something about yourself, like her obsession about having everything about the presentation of the food to be neat and tidy. At that moment, I inwardly reflected and asked myself, “what am I losing here today?”. Fear. I lost some of the fear we hold on to, to reach out to homeless people, to help them, to interact with them. Conversely, I gained so much too. Overwhelming gratitude for everything I have like employment, a warm place to sleep at night and food every day. At some stage of the ladling I did lean over and wiped her arm!
A huge thank you to everyone at CallForce for supporting this initiative. Your generosity and time are much appreciated, I am really excited about all of future project and endeavors to make a difference in the lives of others by reaching out to them and helping where we can.
Lastly, should you wish to find out more about Ladles of Love, you can head over to their website and read more about them: http://www.ladlesoflove.org.za
With lots of Love and Energy
Mishka and the CallForce Energy Team
