Extra ‘dough’ can be donated to FreeFood in Petit
If you have any extra food, they can use it wisely.
Do you have any surplus grocery items that you would like to give away but not sure who to give it to?
FreeFood in Petit will gladly take your donations.
“FreeFood is a logistics company that connects hungry people with excess, pre-expired food,” said general manager and board member Tracy-Lee Benkwitz.
“The regularity and amount of food distributed depends entirely on the availability of surplus food and we have, over the past six months, delivered an average of seven tons per month.
“That sounds like a lot of food but considering that we assist in feeding in excess of 3 000 people, spread between our beneficiary organisations, it is a mere drop in the ocean.”
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According to Benkwitz, FreeFood was started in 2014 in Johannesburg as the founding couple saw a need to assist their local community in addressing hunger and they began by delivering surplus bread, sourced from a local commercial bakery.
“By the end of 2016, FreeFood had grown to include the distribution of pre-expired, surplus food from donors and local retail stores,” Benkwitz said.
“At the beginning of 2017, FreeFood was handed over to the CSI group of companies, based in Petit.”
A decision was made to concentrate on the Ekurhuleni community to assist in alleviating hunger and to date, the NPO supplies food, on a regular basis to over 15 other non-profit organisations.
“Our beneficiaries’ objectives range from places of safety, orphanages, local soup kitchens and churches,” Benkwitz explained.
“FreeFood does not collect or distribute any expired food items to our beneficiary organisations.
“By delivering food, we are able to support our community by supplying quality food items to NPOs who have limited access to bulk food collections.”
The NPO is looking for dry stores, mealie-meal, rice, sugar, oil, beans, stock cubes and everyday staples as long as they are not expired.
Anyone who would like to donate to FreeFood can donate directly into their bank account – the details are on their website www.freefoodsa.co.za or by contacting Benkwitz via email on info@freefoodsa.co.za for food donations or for any other information.
“Every little bit helps and we appreciate the small just as much as large bulk donations,” she said.
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