Our services run on 3 pillars: Assist, Uplift and Develop. Within this pillars we provide the following services.

1. Provision of short-term housing facilities. (Shelter)

• Safe accommodation with water, electricity and sanitation
  • Assistance with material needs, such as clothing and toiletries
  • Three healthy meals per day
  • Individual care plan for every resident
  • Counselling services
  • Referral and networking with expert to assist with psychiatric services, drug rehabilitation and general health issues.
  • Emotional upliftment
  • Spiritual support
  • Group work for basic soft skills development
  • Group work assisting with parenting skills
  • Group work focusing on entrepreneurship and job readiness
  • Family reunification
  • Assistance with obtaining Identity Documents
  • Assistance with SASSA grants
  • Assistance with drafting of CV’s
  • We involve our residents in community outreach projects, such as the feeding scheme, collecting and recycling of rubbish in the Heidelberg streets.

Lesedi Community Centre is the only registered shelter that provides shelter in Heidelberg. We have a capacity of 68 beds in our short-term housing facility. An expert team of professionals are ensuring that each individual are developed to their full capacity and that were possible they are reunified with their families or placed in a position to take care of themselves. We network with multiple other Organisations to ensure that our residents receive the assistance they need.

2. Feeding scheme

• Preparing daily meals to distribute to the various distribution points.
  • Food parcels to families and Organisations in need
  • Referring beneficiaries to other relevant services.

Our feeding scheme provides cooked meals to numerous individuals, families and Organisations. During the Covid-19 period from 26 March 2020 – 24 January 2021 we have donated to the community 17 642 food parcels to families and 54 111 plates of cooked food to individuals.

3. Street outreach Program

• Provision of food and other necessities
  • Emotional and spiritual support
  • Assistance with the rehabilitation process for those who wish to abstain from substance abuse

The aim with this project is to provide rehabilitation for the individuals, reunify them with their families, and to reintegrate them into society.

4. Skills Development

Our own skills development initiatives includes a Sewing project and a Barista training academy.

We currently run weekly workshops for women, teaching them to sew and knit. This is offered free of charge. The objective is for them to learn a skill that can generate income for them.

We have already started with the training of our baristas at the barista academy. This does not only include the making of specialized coffee, but also the maintenance and fixing of coffee machines. Our residents that wish to participate in the barista academy receive their training free of charge. Our barista academy will also be open to the public. For a fee, a community member can be fully trained. This income will allow us to continue with our services.

Some of our residents are very skilled and talented. Our aim is to create a platform for them whereby they can develop their skills, earn an income and later become independent, well-adjusted members of the society. We have a pool of people that is employment ready.

5. Therapy Centre

LCC offers professional counselling services not only to residents of the Centre but also to every individual in need. Due to a lack of human resources this services were initially done on a voluntary basis and limited to Trauma debriefing for victims of crime as referred to us from SAPS Heidelberg. Our vision was, however, to expand to a fully functional Professional Counselling Service providing therapeutic interventions. We are happy to announce that this service is now available full-time at Lesedi Community Centre. Services that the Community can access for a reasonable fee includes: Individual counselling, family counselling, couples counselling, trauma debriefing, grief counselling, eco-metric assessment, forensic assessment and play therapy. LCC can also be contacted for CDP accredited training, therapeutic programme development and teambuilding’s. Family law mediation and employee wellness.