A mission sweet as jam

Thanks to a generous donation of maize meal from Spar South Rand, and support from Lead SA Hero of the Year, Jordan van der Walt and Joint Aid Management, 560 families in the Itsoseng and Lanseria informal settlements in Johannesburg will have food to put on their tables.

It all started when Van der Walt was invited to speak at a Spar members’ meeting in May.

A challenge was put to the attendees that for every bag that the members donated to Van der Walt’s Just One Bag Campaign, Spar South Rand would match it.

“We got together over 19 pallets of maize, but the logistics of distributing it was a nightmare. That’s when Jordan’s mother, Lynn suggested Joint Aid Management,” said senior retail operations manager of Spar South Rand, Greg Segel.

Sisonke Day Care was one the recipients of the food. “Baie baie dankie, this is going to help so much,” said Constance Mokoena, owner of the day care facility.

For Van der Walt, the best part was getting to play with the children. “It was amazing to see how happy these children are even though they live in such poverty,” he said.

Ann Pretorius, co-founder of Joint Aid Management said, “Even though we are helping the children of these communities through our Red Bowl of porridge every morning, we are not reaching their families. A contribution like this from Spar and Jordan helps us to further entrench our support of the community as a whole.”