Roosevelt High School helps ‘Stop Hunger Now’

Only 50 Roosevelt High School pupils were needed for the Stop Hunger Now project, but many more gave up their Saturday to assist. As pupils huddled in the school hall while waiting to begin, teacher Cristél Venter said how pleased she was at the turnout on 1 August. “Even though we told them it was happening on a Saturday, they wanted to be here.” The pupils volunteered to pack meals that would be redistributed to crèches across Gauteng.

Brian Nell, Gauteng branch manager of Stop Hunger Now, explained to the pupils how each meal had to be packed. Each meal contained rice, soup, soy and vitamins. While it was a slow start, as pupils familiarised themselves with the scales and heat sealers, the pace quickened soon after. They paid close attention to what they were doing and packed the meals with care.

Nell said that most of the food goes to crèches, but in some instances, companies’ donations go to universities, owing to the branding aimed at people 18 years and older. “A lot of the time, students will earn bursaries but have to drop out owing to poor living conditions and just not being able to afford food,” he said.

Each meal has a shelf life of one year. Nell continued that 10 per cent of what is packed is kept for disaster relief, with recent donations including 80 boxes to KwaZulu-Natal during the xenophobic attacks and 150 boxes sent to Mozambique after the recent floods.

Hyprop Investments Limited donated R30 000 to Stop Hunger Now, who in turn bought the food for packing. The Roosevelt High School pupils aimed to pack 50 boxes between 10am and 12pm, which equalled 10 800 meals. They actually packed 52 boxes, which equates to about 11 000 meals. Those meals will feed 70 children, three days per week, for a year.