You don’t have to travel far or look hard to find people in need. Even in your own neighbourhood, you’ll see homeless people sleeping under bridges or in the veld. Elderly people struggling to survive on a small Old Age Grant. And those who sift through garbage bags, looking for something to eat, or tin cans and cardboard they might be able to sell.
We all see people in need. The question is, “what do we do about it?”
17 November 2024 marks the 8th World Day of the Poor, and we’re challenging you to do something … even the smallest kindness … to help someone who is hungry, destitute and suffering in your neighbourhood.
Buy a loaf of bread for a homeless person … volunteer at a soup kitchen … or hand out bottled water and sandwiches to the car guards at your local shopping centre.
If you don’t have time to give in person, please consider making a donation to SSVP so we may help someone on your behalf. If everyone in the country just helped one other person, imagine how much hope and joy we could spread on Sunday 17 November?
Please don’t let World Day of the Poor pass unnoticed. Because, even if you only stop to share a smile and a few words of encouragement with someone in need, being acknowledged as a person means so much. It’s being invisible that hurts most.
Click here to read Pope Francis’s message for World Day of the Poor.