Many hands in Sandton rise against hunger for Madiba’s legacy
Corporates, school learners and South African personalities put in a concerted effort to defend South Africa’s vulnerable children against hunger.
Nelson Mandela’s legacy will be celebrated in South Africa, and across the planet, for as long as time remembers his contribution to the emancipation of South Africa.
Where most people and organisations celebrate Mandela’s life and legacy on his birthdate of July 18, the Rise Against Hunger initiative hit the ground running in preparing their contributions to the occasion a day early.
The lower gallery at the Sandton Convention Centre was converted into a hyper-productive warehouse on July 17. As many as 40 corporate companies joined 60 food-packaging production lines in doing their part for Madiba’s birthday.
They were joined by several South African personalities, among them Bryanston-based broadcast publishing entrepreneur, Katie Mohamed.
“I feel it’s important for every one of us to give our contribution in whichever way – whether it’s time, money, or service, to contribute towards celebrating the legacy of Tata Madiba,” Mohamed said. “We’re in collaboration, and not competing with each other.”
The fundraising and marketing head at Rise Against Hunger Nadine Sandrock elaborated on the contents of each packaged parcel.
“These are dry and fully nutritious meals that we distribute to early childhood development (ECD) centres in informal areas. We’re aiming to pack over 600 000 meals,” Sandrock said.
Also doing their bit for Madiba were 54 volunteering learners from the Parktown High School for Girls for the day’s three shifts. Sandrock explained how impactful it was having the learners volunteer for the cause of getting as many boxes as possible filled with goods for ECDs.
“We are quite a small organisation, I think we’re 23 people in total, nationally. Parktown High School for Girls is here today as an extension of our effort, to help us make this day a success. They do their 67 minutes of service over three shifts. They help us to run these lines, and to make sure that the day runs smoothly.”
Rise Against Hunger CEO Brian Nell highlighted the impact made when so many hands gather in one place in commitment to solving the challenges faced by less fortunate children at ECDs.
“The meals we’re packing today go back to our warehouse, where we’ve got our distribution team ready to deliver them to childhood development centres,” Nell explained. “We support just over 86 000 children nationally, with just over 1 090 ECDs. The impact is that this amount of meals would feed just over 2 600 children five meals a week for an entire year, while they attend their ECDs.”
Thanking Southern Sun and the Sandton Convention Centre, which annually sponsors the venue for the cause, and Parktown High School for Girls, Nell concluded with an invitation to any school looking to join the Parktown learners at any future packaging events.
“Parktown High School for Girls being here has become a tradition, but we have a lot of other events and we’re always looking for school-based volunteers to help us pack meals,” said Nell.
“Anyone from a school can contact us to arrange for us to come to their school. We just need an inside venue and some power points for us to come along and pack with their learners. Go to our website www.riseagainsthunger.org.za.”
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