R10m needed for food
CHARITY DRIVE: ‘DESPERATION’ FOR A SQUARE MEAL IS ‘HEART-RENDING’
Food supplier and Gift of the Givers are raising funds in order to provide 1.5 million meals.
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the lives of every South African; none more so than society’s most impoverished individuals, who are unable to buy food and are facing starvation.
According to the results of the recent Human Sciences Research Council study, 24% of South Africans have no money to buy food – increasing to 55% in the informal settlements.
Disaster relief organisation Gift of the Givers has teamed up with food supplier Retort Food Company to prepare and distribute fully cooked, nutritious meals with an extended shelf life.
These heat and ready-to-eat meals, which reduce the need for communal cooking and mitigate infection by transference, have been distributed the past two weeks – but the need is growing.
Retort Food Company managing director Scott Pitman said: “Each meal costs R6 for an adult serving, R5 for a child’s serving, and we aim to raise in excess of R10 million so that we can provide more than 1.5 million meals over the coming weeks.
“Understandably, this is an incredibly tough economic period, but the hardest hit are those who were already struggling before the lockdown.
“We are calling on anyone – corporates and individuals – to donate whatever they can towards this initiative so that no South African is left hungry.”
Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of
Gift of the Givers, said in a statement the organisation’s toll-free lines were flooded with requests.
“The callers are from every corner of the country. The pleading is incessant, they have to feed a hungry child, a baby, or someone ill.
“They don’t have income, won’t be getting paid, are not collecting UIF and probably don’t have a job to go back to.