Full tummies for Diepsloot

DIEPSLOOT – Those most likely to go hungry in the face of the current lockdown got some support recently when Steyn City handed out 3 000 fresh produce parcels to Diepsloot residents.

April 19, 2020

Robyn Kirk 2 minutes read

Thousands of Diepsloot residents will have a full tummy after the Steyn City team completed their handout on 9 April. Photo: Robyn Kirk

According to Statistics South Africa, nearly 20 per cent of South African households had inadequate or severe inadequate access to food in 2017. How many more will now go hungry due to the lockdown?

On 9 April, the Steyn City team loaded up a number of trucks with 3 000 packs of fresh produce and made their way through Diepsloot to distribute the food to those in need in the informal settlement, which is located next door to the estate. A team of volunteers, Steyn City staff and media visited numerous locations to make the deliveries and hope to continue this work in the future with the support of the Steyn City Foundation as well as members of the public.

“Today we’re basically feeding the community,” explained Zoé Van Onselen, who is the head of marketing for Steyn City. “We know a lot of places are handing out non-perishable food, which is really important, so we wanted to focus on fresh produce that people may not be able to get for themselves.

“We worked with our liaison officer to select places that care for the most vulnerable in the community, such as the elderly and children.”

Each parcel contained butternut, onions, potatoes, apples, oranges, a bar of soap and a specially created pamphlet in Zulu which would give recipients helpful information and guidance around Covid-19.

The recipients were Witkoppen Clinic (which received 400 parcels), the Methodist Church in extension 10 (200 parcels), New Creation Ministries (100 parcels), Diepsloot Secondary School (200 parcels), Bona Lesedi Disability Home (100), Diepsloot Clinic (500), Home Base Care (100) and the social services offices (200). The biggest handover took place at Afrika Tikkun, where 1 200 parcels were distributed to those waiting in line.

“We’re hoping to do this consistently for the next few months, and thanks to the help of our partners we managed to organise today’s handover in 10 days.

“We want to identify as many people as possible in this large community, and chose Diepsloot because they are our neighbours and a lot of our staff actually live there. Members of the public are welcome to help support this initiative as well, either as private individuals or as corporate sponsors.”

If you want to donate in some capacity, please contact the organisers by reaching out to the Steyn City Facebook page.