Sarla hands out food parcels to Alexandra’s needy families

The South African Rugby Legends Association in partnership with SA Harvest alongside the SARLA sponsors DSV and Cell C give out blankets and food parcels to the underprivileged in Alexandra.

August 4, 2023

Alulutho Siboma 1 minute read

Some of the children stand in line to receive food parcels at Omosa Development Centre. Photo: Alulutho Siboma

The South African Rugby Legends Association (Sarla) handed out food parcels and blankets to about 400 children in Alexandra.
Sarla did so in partnership with food rescue and hunger relief organisation SA Harvest, and Sarla sponsors DSV and Cell C.
Alexandra’s community faces numerous socio-economic challenges, including food insecurity.

Lindsay Hopkins, sustainability manager at SA Harvest. Photo: Alulutho Siboma

“Today is all about giving back to people who are not as privileged as we have been. As someone who got to play the game and enjoyed it since I was a little child, it’s an honour for me to be able to give back to the community and hopefully uplift them,” said former Springbok David von Hoesslin.

“We as rugby players are always looking into trying and help underprivileged communities and the best way we can assist with that is to feed children. If you have got a healthy body and a healthy mind, you are then able to uplift yourself, you can concentrate better at school and have a better frame of mind as opposed to being on the street, being hungry.”

Community members out in numbers to help their children carry the food parcels and blankets. Photo: Alulutho Siboma

Sustainability manager at SA Harvest Lindsay Hopkins said, “Today we joined Rugby Legends to distribute the food parcels… Alexandra is one of the hundreds of beneficiaries in Johannesburg and also nationally, and as an organisation, we are very big on making sure that we deliver full and nutritious meals.”

A beneficiary Kotloano Letlantheng said, “I think this is a good cause for the underprivileged children who don’t have food at home and since it’s cold, I think people need food and blankets to keep warm, so this was a good gesture.”

Children from Alexandra receive food parcels and blankets from SARLA, Cell C, DSV and SA Harvest organisations. Photo: Alulutho Siboma

Von Hoesslin concluded, “We will continue to do drives like this as rugby legends are always involved in food drives and as long as we have those people who are willing to open their hearts and pockets to help feed communities like this, we will continue to do this as long as possible.”