Bluff volunteers fill 5,000 meal packs
This Stop Hunger Now campaign is not a hand-out but a hand up.
A TEAM of locals joined together on Friday, 15 September to fill and pack 5,000 bags of food for the Stop Hunger Now campaign held by Rise Against Hunger (RAH) at Bluff Towers.
RAH is a volunteer-based meal packaging and results-oriented nutrition programme.
Their focus is on reaching the most vulnerable hungry – children, specifically those who attend pre-schools, or early childhood development (ECD) centres. According to the University of Cape Town’s Children’s Institute, more than three million children under the age of 17 are food insecure. In addition to this, the World Food Programme’s ‘1,000 day window’ study on the irreversible effects of malnutrition for children in their infancy has resulted in the design of the Rise Against Hunger Africa hunger eradication programme.
MORE PICS: Bluff volunteers fill 5,000 meal packs
Some 23 volunteers donned hair nets and gloves to create a production chain to pack 5,000 food parcels within two hours, a goal they exceeded as they finished with time to spare.
Bluff Towers marketing manager and volunteer, Megan Sonny said the whole experience was overwhelming. “It was an awesome feeling to know we are going to make a difference in a child’s life. To know that these meal packs are going to feed so many mouth is heartwarming,” she said.
RAH’s KZN development manager, Keven Pillay said this event is not a hand-out but a hand up. “We are not just providing food, we are also giving the ECDs an opportunity to be motivated to improve their facilities by saving money on food. We want them to be uplifted to make their creches better,” said Pillay.
The meal packs each contained rice, soya, soup mix and a fortification pack with vitamins to help a growing child.
