Packed Food, Food Vouchers and Sustainable Food Gardens

The school feeding scheme is a fundamental mode of health nutrition for most children in under-resourced and impoverished communities. The COVID-19 induced lockdown led to the closure of schools and resulted in unintended societal problems where school learners had no access to meals, particularly in areas where they were dependent on schools for at least one decent meal a day. 

This heightened the pressure for schools to resume and open for purposes of the feeding scheme primarily. CSI observed the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities and provided support to over 300 families in communities in the proximity of the DBSA. CSI also leveraged on the strategic partnership with Rise Against Hunger South Africa to provide two rounds of food packaging that supplied 150 000 food packages each to feed over 570 children. 

Over and above the packed food, a donation was made to enable Rise Against Hunger to start a sustainable vegetable garden that would ensure a supply of fresh vegetables whilst skilling and providing employment for parents working in the garden. This support was given to schools in the area surrounding the DBSA campus, specifically, schools in Tembisa, Olievenhoutbosch and Mooiplaas. The primary focus was on ECDs that do not receive government subsidies.