By Katie Lutz
It is estimated that more than half of South Africa’s 58 million people will require food assistance as a result of COVID-19. Hunger relief at this scale is unprecedented.
In the midst of military-enforced lockdowns, FoodForward South Africa has mobilized its countrywide food bank network to increase service capacity in both urban and rural areas.
“We’ve had to radically ramp up our food and non-food groceries donation, collection and delivery efforts so that we don’t turn a health crisis into a food crisis,” shares Andy Du Plessis, Managing Director of FoodForward SA.
Key partnerships, like that established with The Solidarity Fund, have allowed FoodForward SA to serve 12.4 million meals to families experiencing severe food insecurity. Families received emergency food parcels consisting of non-perishable groceries and fresh produce, which provides a family with food essentials for up to four weeks.
FoodForward SA has partnered with 1000+ beneficiary organizations in their communities to reach more than 2.5 million people adversely affected by COVID-19, prioritizing relief to orphans and vulnerable children, seniors, and those living with HIV, AIDS, and TB.
For example, FoodForward SA has been supporting Dorcas Aid South Africa for the last nine years. Dorcas supports its community by providing social care, job training, food relief and emergency services. During COVID-19, Dorcas saw an increase in users of about 30 percent and serves between 130-150 beneficiaries daily. Dorcas relies on FoodForward SA for their emergency food parcels to meet the pressing community needs due to COVID-19.
With a longstanding partnership since its early days, GFN supports FoodForward SA through remote technical assistance during COVID-19. Weekly meetings have enabled both teams to brainstorm the current operational and financial needs FFSA has and identify ways in which GFN can assist. GFN also provides support through introductions to multi-national partners for food donations, shares best practices from its global network of 50+ good banks, and provides monetary support to fund the increased need in logistics and transportation.
This post originally appeared on https://powering.foodbanking.org/.
