450 Christmas hampers were collected

Operation Anti-Freeze’s Christmas hamper drive in December went very well with 450 hampers collected.

A hamper is a cardboard box filled with non-perishable food items.

Said Hilary Tolmay, project co-ordinator and fund-raiser: “We run school projects where we support 11 schools and one créche by providing 500 food parcels monthly to groups of children within these schools. These children have been identified by the teachers as coming from very poor households and that is in dire need of assistance.

“We also supply spreads, such as peanut butter, jams and mayonnaise, as well as fruit and vegetables when possible, to the schools to help them provide lunch for these children. For some of the children, the meal they get at school is the only meal they will have for the day.

“Many of these children do not eat from the Friday when they leave school until the Monday when they return to school.

“The hampers we collected were distributed to these school children before the schools closed to ensure they had something to eat during the school holidays. We were also able to give hampers to an informal settlement in Bredell and to a number of individual families that we know are in need.

“We want to say a big thank you to everyone who donated. Thank you for helping us to fight hunger and feed hope,” Tolmay said.