Vodacom Bulls prop Lizo Gqoboka has enlisted the help of his teammates to make food-parcel donations to those in need throughout Tshwane.

On Monday, 1 June, the Lizo Gqoboka Foundation teamed up with Vodacom, the Bulls and Big Save in a massive food-parcel drive for needy charities and homes throughout Tshwane who are among the most vulnerable and hardest hit during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The group handed out hundreds of food parcels to the Kingdom of Life Centre, Bophirima Elderly Home, Youth for Survival and Pheli Ryders Motorcycle Club in Atteridgeville, Mamelodi and Saulsville – from where they will go towards needy families in those areas.

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Gqoboka said his personal experience of hunger is what inspired him to drive this project.

‘I believe nobody should worry where their next meal will come from,’ Gqoboka said. ‘I’ve been in that position where I’ve given up on food that day, and someone helped me. I know how it feels.

‘Hunger is now. You cannot postpone hunger. You can’t think of anything else but food. I’m so grateful for this support from Vodacom, the Vodacom Bulls and Big Save. Now we can feed about 350 families for three weeks.

‘In one home there is a 78-year-old lady who looks after about 50 children who have been abused and abandoned. Now they will have food for a month. And the Pheli Ryders in Atteridgeville is a group of bikers who have been helping their community, but who just ran out of resources. I’m so pleased we can help them. When we started this initiative, we wanted to work with people who had a heart for others in their community. Reliable people who we knew would make sure the help goes to where it is most needed.’

Joining Gqoboka in the project were Morne Steyn, Abongile Nonkontwana, Ivan van Zyl and Juandre Kruger, as well as new Bulls CEO Edgar Rathbone.

Gqoboka said he will also be making personal deliveries to homes in Diepsloot, Alexandra, Thembisa, Benoni and even as far as Soweto.

‘There is a Xhosa proverb that says a person is a person through other people. To show such selflessness and “ubuntu” is the highest honour for me to work for a team like the Vodacom Bulls.’