The Greater Tygerberg Partnership (GTP) working with VRCID, MES, TASP and the Haven Night Shelter to change the way people relate to the homeless in our area through the 2019 Bellville Street Store.
We’re proud to be hosting the Street Store in Bellville on the 10th of December 2019 along Voortrekker Road and we need your old clothes!
This Street Store will be Bellville’s fourth rent-free, premises-free, no-cost pop-up clothing store for the homeless.
Homelessness is a worldwide problem. People move past homeless individuals without ever connecting with them. The GTP is committed to changing this by bringing the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ together at a safe, temporary meeting point to break down social stereotypes.
Our goal is to create social awareness, enable residents to give responsibly, and to give homeless people a dignified shopping experience. We also want to help create an integrated service offering when it comes to poverty alleviation, and skills and social development in the region.
The Street Store is an international concept that has been successfully replicated 700 times around the world. It is also endorsed by the City of Cape Town as part of the Give Responsible initiative, as it fosters a sense of love, care and togetherness, without perpetuating homelessness.
An opportunity to change lives
In July 2017, the Haven Night Shelter hosted its own street store, and the outcome was overwhelmingly positive.
During the few hours the store was open, seven homeless people accepted a place in the shelter. Five of these successfully completed the rehabilitation programme. Three were helped to reconnect and reconcile with their families.
We believe that this project will be just as successful, if not even more so, due to collaboration between the GTP, VRCID, MES, TASP and the Haven Night Shelter.
On December 14, 2018, The GTP manage to get one mother with her child off the streets and into a shelter and 25 homeless people got tested for TB.
We look forward to the positive outcomes of this year’s Street Store.
How does it work?
The Street Store is designed to be a structured and controlled event, lasting three hours.
The focus will be on homeless people who are registered at one of the involved social development organisations but newcomers will be assessed and referred appropriately. Each shopper will receive a Street Store loyalty card which allows them to shop at the store.
On the day, shoppers will queue for a chance to shop, with VRCID providing security.
Objectives:
- Restore dignity to the homeless
- Provide a low-pressure environment for stakeholders and volunteers to assist the homeless with finding shelter, accessing social support, rebuilding relationships, reuniting with their families, overcoming employment and developing new skills.
- Change our community’s perception of the homeless
Donate clothes at these collection points:
Please drop your donation into The Street Store boxes at the following locations:
Bellville Library: Carl Van Aswegen Street
DF Malan High School: Frans Conradie Dr, Bellville
Spar: Cnr Voortrekker Road & Bill Bezuidenhout
Bellville Methodist Church: 3 Krige Street, Boston, Bellville, 7530
New National Hotel: 352 Voortrekker Road, Parow
GTP Office: Cnr Durban Road & De Lange Street
OK Oakdale: Alexandra St, Oakdale
Die Handels Huis: 27 Northumberland Street, Bellville
Volkswagen: Cnr Voortrekker & Fritz Spilhaus Ave, Parow
Boston Coffee Shop: Cleveland St, Boston
Key stakeholders
We are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with the following stakeholders, who will be on hand to provide the following services:
MES – Will support and reach out with compassion, love and care. MES will encourage and motivate the homeless people through positive communication and will also assist with admission to the safe space and social development services.
VRCID – Social Development Manager and fieldworkers will assist with assessment and referral of street people and to structure the procedure.
Haven Night Shelter – Will assist with getting the homeless into night shelter and enrolling them in relevant programmes.
Elim Night Shelter – Will also assist by helping the homeless into the shelter.
TASP – Will work with people to reunite them with their families and short term trauma assistance. Broken family relationships are often a common cause of homelessness.
