Prompted by a passion to fight substance abuse and a heart call from God, East Londoner Tracy Povey approached Western Gruppe managing director Nigel Connellan in an attempt to make a difference.
With a well-thought out business proposal and a mutual drive to help their community, they introduced the SUPERSPAR Isipho Sesonka or Bread Blessing token in two of Connellan’s stores earlier this year.
The token, available for R10 at the Gonubie and Nahoon SUPERSPARS, offers an alternative to giving money to the needy.
Instead, token holders can redeem one loaf of Oney brown bread at either of the two stores. “This project is about feeding the hungry, but I realised we have to give responsibly, because we are just encouraging and feeding the drug and substance abuse problem by handing over money,” said Povey.
Sharing the same sentiments, Connellan said giving street kids and beggars money often did more harm than good.
“We’ve had numerous problems with beggars, and even car guards, coming straight to our bottle stores to buy alcohol with the money they’ve received throughout the day.
“Handing out money doesn’t solve the problem at all,” said Connellan, who has known Povey and her family for years.
“We want to get people away from the habit of handing over money and this token works really well because you can just keep a few in your handbag or car and give them out instead of handing over money.”
Both stores have seen community members buy the tokens and those in need use them to redeem their loaf.
Povey and Connellan also hope to expand the project to all his stores and add more items to the list of blessings.
“Bread is the most basic form of sustenance, but we have looked at making a R5 token and maybe R15 token for other foodstuffs in the long run.
“The goal is to have maybe a bread and milk combination and roll it out in different areas in East London.
“Starting out, we’ve kept it simple to test it and gauge if it will work,” said Connellan.
Povey said she was moved to do something after attending a Hillsong Christian conference in Cape Town in April.
“God needs to be given all the glory for the success of the project. He opened the hearts of the right people at the right time. I could not have initiated this project on my own,” she said.
While Povey was the instigator, Isipho Sesonka quickly became a community project, with people, organisations and businesses – including Copyworld Berea, Stirling Baptist Church and Self Seal Labels – coming on board...