UCT student's brainwave sees volunteers deliver groceries to elderly under lockdown

UCT business science student Kate Charter launched an online organisation two weeks ago that is helping hundreds of elderly Capetonians with their shopping during lockdown, at no cost or health risk to them.

She hopes a similar initiative will take off in other cities, after enquiries from people living in Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg.

Cape Town Against Coronavirus provides shoppers for older people who need groceries or pharmaceuticals, using an online map plotting where the volunteers and pensioners live. Charter works out the closest geographical connections and links them up with lists.

Elderly people are the most vulnerable group to Covid-19 and need to restrict all potential exposure to the coronavirus.

“When UCT informed us that we wouldn’t be going back to university and it didn’t know when, I wanted to do something productive,” says the 19-year-old.

“I looked at what initiatives had been started overseas and came across one in the US called Shopping Angels [now partnering with them] so I started the same concept in SA.

“I started a Facebook page and WhatsApp group, and soon people were sharing it and talking about it.

“An elderly person or their families get in contact with me. They say what groceries or pharmaceuticals they would like. Then they register and send me details of what they need.

“My online database pinpoints on a map where they are: you can serve only the elderly within your area and no physical contact is involved. Cash transactions are preferred but I’ve had to start accepting EFTs.”

A team at SIFAR, the Samson Institute For Ageing Research, developed the online databases for pairing older people with volunteers said Charter. SIFAR executive director Dr Leon Geffen offered advice and helped “spread the word” about their services.

More than 300 volunteers have joined through WhatsApp and the online form, said Charter, who aims to develop an “identity card for volunteers”.

They have shopped for “lots of people” and helped Meals on Wheels deliver meals to hundreds of people. “We serve 500 meals in one day with Meals for Wheels,” she said.

Enthusiasm for the concept has expanded beyond Cape Town up to the coast to Onrus and Hermanus and is “building up in Somerset West”.

“We have had so many people from Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg ask if we cater there but we are focusing on our immediate area,” she said.

“So many people have contacted me about getting something started there, and I hope someone does.”

Some volunteers no longer work through the organisation as they have developed relationships with the elderly they meet.

Charter said this is exactly what she hoped would happen: bringing people together to help each other.