NPOs team up to host Christmas Lunch Under the Bridge

Also read: Let them know it’s Christmas!

The event has been put together by Bryan Torien, from Breaking Boundaries Building Bridges, and radio and TV personality Soli Philander, from the Soli Philander Foundation, in an effort to bring love and food to the housing insecure.

The Soli Philander Foundation feeds the housing insecure six days a week, meaning Philander has well-established relationships with many of the guests who will be attending.

This is the second year the event will run, and to make it even more memorable, Torien and his friend will be cooking a four-course meal. Last year, the hosts catered for 50 but fed 73. 

Also read: 12 Cape Town businesses to support this festive season

The courses will include seafood gratin, butter chicken curry, roti, roast chicken, roast lamb, roast vegetables, yellow rice and roast potatoes – all the best for a home-cooked Christmas lunch.

Guests will have trifle and boeber (a Cape Malay delicacy) for dessert and be given their own small snack tray along with a gift pack of essentials.

“On December 24, when we sit down with our guests we want to make them feel like family,” Torien explained to IOL.

“We want them to feel integrated and not as outcasts. We understand what it’s like to not have a table to put your feet under. So, we want them to know that this Christmas lunch and a Christmas celebration designed specifically for them.”

Torien wants people to feel loved and hopeful: “We have a HOPE board and we are asking children to make a card for our guest. A card that shares a message of hope.”

This year, the location will move from Green Point to the courtyard of Springfield Terrace in District Six.

“This year we would like children to come out to Springfield Terrace and put up their cards on our board of hope. They can comes share their messages of hope and love and take a picture with Soli and Father Christmas,” Torien said.

Below the board of hope will be a basket of hope so anyone can come past and drop off socks, toiletries or any other essentials for the guests.

Torien and the rest of the team are excited for the event but need assistance from the public to make the lunch a success.

The team needs to raise R20,000 to cover all the costs, as they need tables, trestles, cutlery and crockery, among other things.

Torien is looking for a company willing to lend gazebos for the day so that the guests won’t have to sit in the heat.

Along with the housing insecure, the event has also been specifically opened up to members of the LGBTIQ+ community who have been outcast by family.

If you would like to assist the team in this event by any means, you can contact Bryan Torien at 067 080 7276. Monetary donations can also be made.