Mon May 25 09:10:00 UTC 2020
Ansie Adams, branch manager of Shoprite Eldorado Park, was so moved by the plight of 10 car guards outside the shopping centre where she works that she presented each one of them with a food hamper.
- Ansie Adams, Branch Manager Shoprite Eldorado Park
She will never forget the look of gratitude and relief on each man’s face. “I believe that as a community we must help those in need. We shouldn’t wait for others to help the people in our communities, we must do it ourselves,” adds Adams, who has plans to help them again after pay day at the end of May.
When handing over the hampers Adams made sure that the hygiene protocols required in her store and the shopping centre were strictly adhered to. In order to work outside the centre all the car guards had to wear face masks, which they all did on the day. Also, they entered the supermarket one at a time to collect their hamper to comply with social distancing practices.
The mother of four adult children, Adams started working for Shoprite close to 37 years ago in her home town Upington: “I started as a till packer when the first Checkers in Upington opened in 1983.” She moved up the ranks and entered the Shoprite Group’s trainee managers programme in 1989. Two years later she got married and moved to Johannesburg and has been serving as branch manager at Shoprite Eldorado Park since 2010. Her position at the supermarket means she is often approached by destitute people for food and assists wherever she can.
The Shoprite Group, as part of its ongoing hunger relief efforts, lends long-term support to two community projects in the area, namely the Eldorado Park Food Garden at Missouri Secondary School and the Environmentorz Food Garden behind Eldorado Park Secondary School.
Since the start of the national lockdown, the Group has also made donations to numerous local non-governmental organisations in support of their efforts to help the people of Eldorado Park.