Source: The Times, 27 May 09
THE amount of food given to needy people in Cape Town has more than tripled since the launch of FoodBank Cape Town two months ago.At the launch of the Johannesburg branch of FoodBank yesterday, at the city's Fresh Produce Market, the organisation said food distribution in Cape Town had increased from 60t a month to more than 200t.
FoodBank distributes about 75t of food a month to more than 440 organisations in Johannesburg.
FoodBank SA, which intends opening 20 urban and rural food depots in the next three years, is not a feeding scheme but an initiative "to get more food to more people" through co-ordination and collaboration.
Big feeding schemes such as Operation Hunger and Meals on Wheels are partners in this effort.Charles Hamilton, a senior manager at the Fresh Produce Market, said more than 1000 food producers were prepared to join the initiative.
FoodBank SA chairman Crispin Sonn said: "Feeding people is not a competitive sport. It is about collaboration.
"We can eradicate hunger in our lifetime. South Africa has had a food surplus since 1974."
Despite this, nearly a third of citizens, about 14million people, wake up each day not knowing where to find their next meal, he said.
FoodBank SA leader Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana said the organisation's success would be measured not only by the number of food crates it delivered but by the hope it gives to the hungry.
Bob Forney, retired president of the Global FoodBanking Network, said: "South Africa needs enough commitment and enough intelligence ... to make sure everyone has enough food".
