Kloof’s Bellevue Café helps feed thousands

SINCE the popular Bellevue Café in Kloof was repurposed in late April to cook meals for those in need for the duration of the lockdown, and distributed by the Zero2Five Trust, the project has grown.

For six days each week, at least 500kgs of chicken stew are cooked in several steaming pots in the restaurant’s kitchen, decanted into 5l sealed buckets and taken into marginalised communities across KZN.

An average of 100 buckets, that contain 800 meals per day with 1kg rice on the side, are rolled out each day and Bellevue Café has yet to purchase a single ingredient.

Donations from the Willowton Group, RCL Foods, Unilever, The Juice Kitchen, Oxford Food Market, Regal Meats and many individuals have made the project a success.

To date, a eight tons of cooked meals have been distributed.

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Zero2Five Trust also received 1 421 food relief parcels from the eNCA/HCI Foundation national campaign and many needy families were equipped with a Bellevue stew bucket and a box of food that will feed a family of four for four weeks.

The delicious stews have been delivered to rural areas as far as Zululand and Loskop.

“Once again, the Upper Highway community has stepped up and embraced this project. We have had streams of regular guests and friends delivering fresh vegetables, spices and grains and we are yet to buy raw materials.

“Financial donations have continued to pour in with one of our neighbours and friends donating a whopping R60 000 to the project. Our waitering team has really enjoyed the project and, while the earnings are needed and appreciated, they all say they love making a difference,” said the owner and founder of Bellevue Café, Guy Cluver.

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The CEO of the Zero2Five Trust, Julika Falconer, said, “We are totally overwhelmed by the support of the big food donors and our Upper Highway community. The monetary donations will allow us to continue cooking and delivering these highly nutritious chicken stews for another few weeks and – together with the many other dry food donations we are adding – we help many struggling families survive this crisis. With much uncertainty on when the lockdown will be lifted, ongoing projects like this not only supply much-needed nutrition but also give the communities an unmeasurable sense of community and hope.”

The Conscious Café in Hillcrest has also opened its kitchen to assist with the preparation of meals.

The public can support the cause by donating vegetables to Bellevue Café, Kloof or make a monetary donation via Zapper or a direct deposit via www.zero2five.org.

Alternatively, email julika@zero2five.org.za or contact Julika Falconer on 082 533 3132 to help.

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