Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres across South Africa will receive more than half a million rand in nutritious meals, thanks to a recent partnership between Rama and Spar.
Earlier this year Rama committed to donate a meal to a child in need for every Rama Original 500g Brick purchased from Spar and raised over R600 000 through Spar customer’s generous purchases.
The Do More Foundation, which supports projects directed at food security, youth development, economic development and early childhood development, will use the funds to ensure hundreds of children under five-years-old get a nutritious meal daily.
The Do More Foundation works in collaborative partnerships with key public and private stakeholders to meet the needs of young children as set out in South Africa’s National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy, but proper nutrition is vital to this process.
Young children need the right nutrients to learn and grow optimally, but currently around 25% of children under five are being stunted by poor nutrition.
“We currently support 1 015 ECD programmes across South Africa with several based in KZN. In the wake of the devastating floods, securing consistent nutritious meals for our KZN-based centres has become a key priority and this donation will go a long way to help us feed, not just the children, but the community that serves them,” said Iris Naidoo, partnership manager of Do More Foundation.
“We are grateful to Rama and Spar for taking the initiative to support our projects at a time when, especially in KZN, resources are greatly needed. It’s thanks to partnerships like these that we are able to impact so many lives daily,” she said.
At a handover event held at Entokozweni Place of Care in Hammarsdale last month, representatives from Rama, Spar and the Do More Foundation came to witness first-hand the impact this donation will have on the 95 children and eight teachers and staff at the facility.
“At Rama, we believe that every child should have access to a meal – a good meal. One that’s tasty and nutritious, packed full of goodness – which is why we were so excited to see South Africans all across the country support this campaign. We would like to thank the Spar Group and our fellow South Africans for their generosity. Through the Do More Foundation, you have helped to ensure that many young children get a better start in life,” said Sasha Sathianathan of Rama.
Spar KZN marketing director, Menelisi Luthuli said: “This is just another great example of business, communities and NGOs working together to solve major issues affecting our society. It’s heartwarming to see how many young lives will benefit from this donation.”
Education