WATCH: Acornhoek receives maize meal donation
A joint effort by the Acorn Foundation, Mercy Air and Amway provided relief to those in need living in Acornhoek. Donations of maize meal and nutritional supplements were made by the Acorn Foundation and Amway respectively.
With bakkies loaded with five- and 10-kilogram maize meal bags, Mercy Air headed towards Wisdom Crèche in Acornhoek last week to deliver them to people in need.
Upon return, they loaded nutritional supplements to take back to Mbombela. The maize meal was donated by the Acorn Foundation and the supplements by Amway.
Joel Baertschi and Philip Schmied from Mercy Air availed themselves for the deliveries, as their usual operations have been halted due to the lockdown.
Baertschi, a helicopter pilot for Mercy Air, said compared to their usual day-to-day routine, flying to isolated areas of Mozambique, this was quite different.
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“But the heart behind it is the same. We’re meeting a need and helping other people, showing them that someone cares for them, loves them. And I think that’s why we’re here.”
Daphney Makhubele, principal of Wisdom Crèche, said the maize meal would be allocated and then collected from the crèche.
Some, she said, would go to the poorer parents of the children who attend the crèche. When operational, Makhubele and her team accommodate children ages four and younger and currently have about 170 children.
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Of the supplements donated by Amway, 208 boxes were redistributed in Mbombela, and the rest remained in Acornhoek.
According to Sue Smit, CEO of the Acorn Foundation, it has been running a project since 2017. More than 4 500 children (59 crèches) get micro-nutrient supplements every day and they also supply Nourish Eco Village with supplements.
Each box contained 30 containers of Nutrilite Little Bits. So, from the 208 boxes, 6 240 kids would get one month’s supply.
The boxes were distributed between the Buscor Outreach and the Lowveld Covid Flight operations teams.
