30,000 Nutritious Meals per month
Provided to the most vulnerable of our communities in the Cape Agulhas district.
That’s the goal of the Nuwejaars Wetlands Special Management Area. We’ve already secured an important donation to launch this far-reaching project.
But now we need YOUR help to take the next step.
GET INVOLVED
Why get involved with a food relief programme?
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown have put communities out of work – and left them with very little to survive. In the Nuwejaars Wetlands Special Management Area (NWSMA), the impacts of the lockdown on the Elim community (an NWSMA member), and the Struisbaai North community (a close drive from our NWSMA), have been far-reaching. Most households in these rural communities fell below the poverty threshold BEFORE the virus arrived here. Now families, and especially their young children, are going hungry.
Right now, food parcels aren’t ideal for many of these households
– because people living here have no money to buy electricity. Cooking a basic meal is now impossible. Nutrition is lacking, especially among younger children who need nutritious meals to support their growth and wellbeing.
We have a plan to help
Wonderful partners across the Cape Agulhas region have come together to help during this time. Each plays a key role in making this plan come alive.
- The Black Oystercatcher Kitchen is the base of our food relief programme.
- The Brewhouse equipment here is used to cook large quantities of nutritious stew – totaling 30,000 meals per month for 6 months. Meat and veggies are donated from partners, such as our landowner members of the NWSMA, and from organisations such as Bruce Jack’s HeadStart Trust.
- And the meals are delivered to schools and families in Elim and in Struisbaai North as dictated by the need.
Thank you
This partnership includes philanthropists Harry and Dorinda Moore, who generously donated the start-up funding to get the initiative off the ground (and who have been supporting the NWSMA for the past two years), the HeadStart Trust (Bruce Jack), Michael and Melissa van Breda (members of the NWSMA), the Cape Agulhas Municipality, Antoinette Events (Antonie du Toit), Grant Smuts (Smuts Brothers), Robert Graaff (Graaff Fruits), Louw Coetzer, Scott Millar, Anja Brandt, the Black Oystercatcher, Fraser’s Folly and many more concerned farmers and residents of the Overberg.
The meal
Each meal consists of a serving of hearty meat-based stew. It includes protein and fresh vegetables such as carrots, potatoes and beans (depending on donations we receive). It’s packed with vitamins and minerals. In fact, it’s got considerably more nutritional value compared to a serving of pap (our rough estimates suggest around 4 times the nutritional value). We work on around R38 for a litre of stew.
This is ONLY THE BEGINNING of the project. Now we need YOUR HELP to support these communities who have no food security, and no income.
Here’s how you can get involved:
- Donate to the food relief programme. It costs around R38 to cook 1 litre of meat-based stew. Visit our website to donate: www.nuwejaars.com; or see the details below. Your donation will help us provide 30,000 meals every month, for the next 6 months.
- Donate food to the project. Contact NWSMA Project Manager, Ross Kettles, to discuss the opportunities. Tel. 079 695 8372, or email: admin@nuwejaars.com
- Creating jobs opportunities
We’re looking at ways to create opportunities for our communities. So we’re in the early planning phase to set up a JOB CREATION FUND. Those in need can potentially receive employment and skills development in the environmental and tourism sectors in the Nuwejaars Wetlands Special Management Area. For every person we can help, it also provides a livelihood to their families, thereby multiplying the impact.
Here’s how you can help
OR you can make a deposit:
Bank: Standard Bank
Account name: Nuwejaars River Nature Reserve
Account: 071024654
Branch code: 051001
Deposit reference: Your name, food relief
Please let us know if you make a donation. Send an email to Vanessa: admin@nuwejaars.com to join our Donor’s Club, so that we can thank you and keep you informed of how your donation is helping to make a difference.
The Nuwejaars Wetlands Special Management Area
We’re a registered public benefit organisation with credibility and trust built up over the past 15 years. We protect the unique (and threatened) natural world in and around our Nuwejaars wetlands. But we can’t achieve this without people – that’s why we champion social wellbeing in our programmes, for ALL people.
For us, supporting our connected communities, especially children from these communities, is imperative.
Over the 15 years, we’ve raised funds and worked with major donors (such as WWF South Africa) to roll out our programmes. Our unqualified audited financials attest to our credibility and transparency. We would be happy to share these with interested donors.
We work with
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