Soul Food and The Love Trust join forces to nourish and educate Thembisa children

The Love Trust and Soul Food, two faith-based non-profit organisations, have committed to working together to ensure that children have access to quality education and the nutrition they need to thrive.

This long-standing partnership, which began in 2019, has been renewed with greater vigour following Mandela Day 2025, when Soul Food pledged to provide breakfast meals to The Love Trust’s Nokuphila School in Thembisa on an ongoing basis.

It is a commitment that recognises the equal importance of food and education in breaking the cycle of poverty.

Soul Food provides between 1.5 and 1.7 million meals nationally on a monthly basis, feeding over 70 000 children daily through more than 1 000 centres.

“We have always believed that proper nutrition is a human right,” said Thabo Maluleke, chief operating officer at Soul Food.

“It is shocking that 1.7 million children in South Africa, about 27%, are already stunted. Many never received a fair chance at proper nutrition.

“By narrowing our focus to children from birth to 10 years old, we are targeting the crucial window where we can make the biggest difference.”

Their flagship breakfast, the POWA Pack, is a sorghum-based porridge rich in protein, energy, and balanced nutrients, designed specifically to combat malnutrition.

A 1kg bag provides 25 meals and can be prepared as porridge or a shake.

For lunch, the POWA Loda, a soy-based product with rice and spices, offers variety and warmth.

These scientifically developed solutions are the products of extensive research and development through collaborations with leading manufacturers and academic partners.

In addition to their signature power meals, Soul Food rescues surplus consumable food nearing expiration from farms and retailer partners such as Woolworths and Checkers.

By training their food pickers to ensure safe redistribution, they help prevent millions of kilograms of food from being wasted.

For The Love Trust, which manages the Nokuphila School in Thembisa, as well as an extensive teacher training programme, the partnership with Soul Food means more than just meals.

By ensuring learners are properly nourished, The Love Trust can redirect resources into other critical areas, such as STEM learning tools and ensuring their learners are safely transported to and from school.

It is a collaboration that amplifies the impact of both organisations.

“Our partnership with The Love Trust is a no-brainer. They are giving children the gift of education, and we ensure that they are nourished enough to learn. Together, we can go above a bowl of food and offer children a real future,” said Maluleke.

Beyond its current products, Soul Food is investing in innovation.

The forthcoming POWA Baby meal, still in research and development, is designed for infants from six months to two years old to bridge nutritional gaps from the earliest stages of life.

Other projects include NUTRI TRACK, which will monitor children’s health and nutrition in real-time.

As the collaboration between Soul Food and The Love Trust strengthens, they hope for a generation of young South Africans whose hunger to learn is fuelled by these organisations, equipping them for a brighter tomorrow.

Maluleke puts it: “If we can keep a child in school, learning with energy and dignity, then we have done more than feed them; we have invested in South Africa’s future.”