Grassy Park buzzed with excitement on Thursday as more than 200 children gathered at the Calvinist Church for their annual Christmas lunch.
The much-anticipated lunch is hosted each year by Lotus River mom, Beryl Williams, 52, who spends an entire day cooking a traditional Christmas lunch for underprivileged children from Riemvasmaak and Phumlani Village informal settlements.
Fondly known as “Auntie Girly”, the bubbly woman ropes in her friends, family, Grassy Park police and even her former employer, Pick n Pay, to make a special lunch for the children.
Williams started hosting the parties in 1994 for underprivileged children after seeing how sukkeling parents could not provide a lunch for their children on Krismis, which saddened her deeply.
“I was always inspired by my mother, Catherine Arries, who had a heart for those less fortunate,” she says.
“When I was a child, we didn’t have Riemvasmaak and Phumlani, but we had Gugulethu and Nyanga and my mother made us spend days making sandwiches and food to help those families.
“I started in 1994 with my weekly distributions where I give them something to eat then I later started these parties.”
Williams and her family spent the entire day cooking soutvleis and making salads on Wednesday for the party, and Thursday morning they got up at 5am to roast chickens.
“We made alles to make them feel special. I used to be a cashier at Pick n Pay in Constantia and once I met Raymond Ackerman and that man has a heart for his people and his staff.
TREAT: Laaities stomach's filled. Picture: Monique Duval
“He really inspired me and until today I can always rely on them for help.
“For the party his son, Jonathan, just asked me what I need and he sent juice and ice-cream and cakes for the children but the main food items I bought out of my own pocket.
“Jonathan is so nice, he knows I make food for them once a week so he gave me a big stainless steel pot to help me.”
Mom Faieka Boyes, 23, says the children enjoyed a lunch that many of them may not have on Christmas Day.
“Every year the children look forward to this because they know Auntie Girly goes all out.
HEART OF GOLD: Auntie Beryl with kids at her annual lunch. Picture: Monique Duval
“She really made them feel special.”