Partnership to dish up 2.4 million nutritious meals to hungry children
Over the past three years, a partnership between FUTURELIFE® and the Dis-Chem Foundation has provided more than 2 million highly-nutritious meals to South Africa’s preschool children in need. Now, with the welcome addition of NIVEA and Octodec to this nationwide initiative, the four companies together will enable a massive 2,4 million nutritional meals to be served to children in need in 2023, reaching three-and-a-half times as many children in one year than in the previous three years combined.
With rising living costs and South Africa’s unemployment currently at 32.7%, household hunger remains a major concern. Each day, millions of people go to bed hungry and the majority of them are children. In fact, it is reported that 3 million children experience hunger regularly.
According to the World Health Organization, poor nutrition can cause a child’s growth to be stunted but this goes far deeper than their physical development. They can also suffer cognitive delays which impact their future and robs them of the chance of ever achieving their full potential in life.
“Our partnership is not only about alleviating hunger among South Africa’s children. As education and nutrition go hand-in-hand, this is about our future as a nation,” says Mark Bunn, Managing Director of FUTURELIFE®. “Young children need the right nutrients to grow and learn in their formative years and if they don’t have a balanced diet, the repercussions can be dire.”
FUTURELIFE®’s partnership with the Dis-Chem Foundation launched in June 2020 when the food company started supplying 50 000 meals for hungry children on a monthly basis. Bunn says that due to positive feedback and support, by May 2021 they were able to double the number of meals provided. Now, with the support of Octodec and NIVEA, 200 000 meals will be distributed monthly by HOPE worldwide South Africa.
“Ensuring that young children get the nutrition they need is critical, but having the meals available is only the start. The choice of a distribution partner is integral to the project’s success,” says Mark. “It is therefore incredibly rewarding to work with HOPE worldwide South Africa. Their extensive national Early Childhood Development network means that our meals can be served across seven provinces at 36 sites, reaching thousands of children daily.”
“As a brand, FUTURELIFE® believes in health, hope and happiness and that all people should have access to these through good nutrition,” states Bunn, “ So it is incredibly rewarding to have these new partners come on board to help us make a meaningful difference in the lives of even more of our country’s future generation.”
He adds that their work is not yet done. “We will continue to seek out more partners so that we can make sure that as many children as possible enjoy this right, enabling them to learn and grow thereby safeguarding not only South Africa’s children but her future too.”
If you are a corporate and would like to get involved in alleviating child hunger in South Africa, email FUTURELIFE® today at [email protected].
For more information go to www.futurelife.co.za.
