Thanks to the generous support of the Global Foodbanking Network (GFN), Lunch Buddies - a school feeding programme by FoodBank South Africa (FBSA) - has gone national. And it's only a matter of time before it goes global! Seeing the merits of the programme and the potential for it to be replicated in South Africa and beyond, the GFN incentivised FBSA to develop a blueprint for the programme and to roll it out in other parts of South Africa.
After piloting it in Cape Town, where it has been an enormous success, FBSA has just launched Lunch Buddies in Durban and Joburg will follow in due course.
Roxy MacNaughton, FBSA's national programmes coordinator, manages the Lunch Buddies programme. She explains how it works: "Lunch Buddies provides children from under-resourced schools with sandwiches made by children who go to more resourced schools. The children at the donor schools pack an extra lunch which they leave at a collection point at their school. FoodBank fetches the sandwiches and delivers them to the beneficiary schools."
There are 36 donor schools participating in the programme in Cape Town and 11 in Durban. This enables FBSA to provide lunches to about 2,000 school children a day.
Unfortunately not every child at the donor schools packs an extra sandwich, which means there are three times as many donor schools as there are beneficiary schools. "Our biggest challenge is to get every learner at the donor schools to remember to bring a sandwich on their collection day. When this happens we can take on more beneficiary schools, and hence feed more children in poorer communities."
Lunch Buddies is also sponsored by Rama, a leading margarine brand. Unilever marketing manager Jane Fenner says the Lunch Buddies programme is an extremely important one because the vision is to have no child go hungry and miss out on learning and development. "This is very close to Rama's heart too, as our mission as a brand is also to give children the best chance in life through ensuring they have access to good nutrition.
"Rama and Lunch Buddies both understand that something as simple as a sandwich at lunch break can ultimately make the difference between a healthy , happy , successful child and a struggling one. Every child has a basic right to good nutrition and Rama commends Lunch Buddies not only for working hard to get sandwiches to needy children but, more importantly, for teaching children that they are part of a bigger humanity where small, charitable actions can make a big difference."
Roxy says the feedback from beneficiary schools has been hugely encouraging. "We've had principals telling us how the children's concentration levels have improved and that they have the energy to stay at school in the afternoons to participate in extra-mural activities, which is wonderful."
Always on the lookout for opportunities to raise awareness about the Lunch Buddies programme, FBSA regularly hosts "sandwich jams". These are fun events that can be held in a food bank warehouse, a school or even a shopping mall.
During the recent June holidays, Cape Town mother Chrischele Alberts decided to spend a day "jamming" with her daughters Courteney (15) and Thalea (22) at FoodBank Cape Town. Chrischele wanted to do something special with her girls. The morning began with a 90-minute sandwich-making session, followed by a visit to one of the agencies that receives food from FBSA.
"My kids know all about Lunch Buddies because their school participates in it. But they had never had the benefit of the bigger picture - seeing where their sandwiches go."
Escorted by Grant McPherson of FoodBank Cape Town, Chrischele and her daughters visited an orphanage in Khayelitsha. Baphumelele is home to about 125 children, though it feeds over 1,000 beneficiaries a day.
"What an eye-opener it was for us!" says Chrischele. "Handing out the sandwiches we'd prepared was truly humbling. Just to witness the gratitude on the little faces for such a simple meal. The experience had a profound impact on all of us. We spoke about how we take so many things for granted.
"Thank you FoodBank for an absolutely awe-inspiring morning!"
Chrischele, who is now a firm FoodBank supporter, has since added Grant as a friend on Facebook and uploaded photographs of her day spent with FoodBank. Now she's encouraging her extended family and circle of friends to join FoodBank in the fight against hunger.
From everyone at FoodBank, thank you, Chrischele!
If you would like to participate in the Lunch Buddies programme or a sandwich jam, please call Roxy on 021 531 5670.
