Extending a helping hand, one loaf at a time

Loaf Day has become a day to show care and spread warmth throughout the country by reaching out to those in need.

Two residents, Jen McBean and Paul Smulders started the project #Loafday to give back to the community by trying to meet some of the needs in the country. “We decided to do something helpful and hand out half a loaf of bread to the poor every Wednesday, which we call Loaf Day. It gives us so much pleasure to see the smiles on their faces when they receive the bread, and we wanted to share that feeling with the community,” said Jen.

Currently, more that 3 000 people have committed to the weekly outreach. If each one hands out a minimum of four half loaves of bread per week, 12 000 unprivileged people in South Africa receive half a loaf. According to the #Loafday Facebook page, some people hand out as many as 50 loaves a week.

One of the members, Fatima Leutgeb started her journey to help by pledging to #Loafday to create awareness, and with this she also invites others, even organisations to accept the #LoafDay challenge.

“On Monday, 11 November, I bought 50 loaves of bread. I called my friend to come and help me hand out the loaves during our lunch hour,” Fatima explained.

“I spoke about this initiative to anyone who would listen, and this is how my friends and two companies became involved. They gave the money and I would arrange for the 50 loaves to be delivered to the organisations I came up with (thanks to Google). I almost became obsessed and would challenge my colleagues to pledge even 10 loaves, and most of them did,” she elaborated.

At first, getting people to donate was not that easy. “I found that people wanted to help but didn’t know how and where. They were happy to donate, but didn’t want to become involved in the logistics. Also, the perception is that the homeless are drug addicts, which is not always the case. The shelters actually test them for alcohol and drug use before they allow them in to spend the night,” she stated.

After Fatima and her husband had pledged to donate 50 loaves, she approached her employer, who pledged to donate 100 loaves on Loaf Day. One of her friends, Rose Combe, owner of New Shade Marketing, provides sausages with her bread donations, and works with Fatima to make sure that the other bread donations are picked up and dropped off where required. Fatima also mentioned that they decided to donate to charities that are struggling.

Because she wanted to make a bigger difference along with the organisations that accepted her challenge, she initiated a project she called Loaf a Day. Through this initiative they wish to help provide food to a specific organisation in need on a monthly basis.

Fatima described Loaf Day as a humbling experience that made them appreciate how blessed they are. “It became a habit to carry around loaves with me, as well as bottles with ice-cold water. I hand these out to the street vendors, refuse collectors – basically anyone who looked like they need something to drink,” she added.

“You ask what I have learnt? That person could be my mom or my sister or my child. I will continue helping on a smaller scale for now, but as soon as I receive donations, we will go big or go home,” the #Loafday angel, concluded.