Urban Gleaning

The reality

The Warehouse is often perceived as a place where unwanted items can be donated to the poor. Undeniably, there is a mammoth need for basic relief in many communities in our city. But our desire is to develop the gleaning concept described in Leviticus for our twenty-first century urban context.

“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of the field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien” Leviticus 23:22

Gleaning met the needs of the poor without destroying their dignity, and that is how we want to serve our communities.
Relief that is not part of long-term processes of development is undignifying and unsustainable. The church in Cape Town is filled with people who have an excess of time, skills, things or money, but many churches are overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problems, and those churches who exist and operate in the poorest communities are often the ones with the least resources.

The intervention

Our desire is to respond to the Christian who has woken up to the extent of the poverty crisis, and to the needs of those who are burdened by the effects of that crisis. We believe that if we want to uphold the dignity of both those who give and those who receive, we must build bridges that can facilitate mutually uplifting relationships. We want to promote considered generosity. Rather than simply clearing out garages and storerooms in the hope that some of the contents will be of use, we are seeking to ask God, and encourage you to ask God, what He is calling us to give away.

Here on the ‘threshing floor’ at the Warehouse, we sort through and store what is given to us, in preparation for redistribution. ‘Time-givers’ are volunteers who help us with that process, and the task of carefully selecting items and assembling ‘love packs’ to meet the specific needs of particular individuals or communities. Teams of volunteers and Warehouse staff will then make deliveries in response to requests that we have received from groups or churches working in communities. In this way Urban Gleaning does not work directly with recipients, but rather we insist on working through people who will continue to be in relationship with those who need relief.

It is this intentionality in how and what we give that distinguishes us from most charities. Through encouraging careful discernment from givers, distributing only need-specific items, and using time-givers to sort and select appropriate gifts, we are helping people to engage with people, not just ‘poverty’.

The prayer

We want to see the church in Cape Town united against poverty and inequality, leading the way in the process of reconciliation and restitution in this nation. We pray that more and more people would be inspired by Jesus’ call to live generously and sacrificially, and that both the poor and the rich in this city would be free to live lives of dignity, generosity, godliness and love.