One of the more novel food sourcing operations at FoodBank happens at large sports events, where a team of volunteers from our beneficiary organisations work with the catering companies and FoodBank staff to collect all unused food from the buffets at the various executive suites and boxes.
On Friday 24th July, the FoodBank Durban team went feeding with the Sharks, as we sourced food at the ABSA Stadium from the various catered events at the Sharks versus Bulls rugby game. Here is an action replay of the night:
6:00pm - FoodBank trucks leave the warehouse, stocked with 300 empty buckets for collection. On the way we pick up the volunteers for the evening, a group of youths from the Ottawa Youth Shelter. FoodBank encourages all beneficiary organisations to supply volunteers for its operations to avoid a "handout" mentality, and to build valuable skills in the community in warehousing, logistics and food handling.
7:15pm - We arrive at the ABSA stadium, just in time for the second half of the game. For many of the youths, this was their first rugby game, and with front row seats, a real treat before the hard work began. The highlight of the evening was seeing some great interplay between Keegan Daniel and Odwa Ndungane, resulting in Shark's skipper Jacques Badenhorst's successful try and conversion.
8:15pm - As the game ended, the volunteers and staff were issued with buckets, and, swimming against the stream of fans leaving the stadium, made their way to the executive suites. At each suite, the food sourcing team carefully removed food from trays and platters from the buffet tables into buckets, marked them and placed them outside the door for collection by the logistics team.
9:30pm - The logistics team, having collected all the buckets and moved them to the trucks, sort the food into a suitable mix for each beneficiary organisation. Over 200 buckets of food are collected that evening, quite a catch! Once Bongani, the logistics manager, is certain that all buckets have been returned (as well as all volunteers!), we head out to the beneficiary organisations to deliver the food.
10:15pm - The first truck arrives at a beneficiary organisation, and food is unloaded to their kitchens. A final check on the delivery is made by Bongani (he's the one counting in the picture below!), before heading to the next beneficiary.
11:30pm - The final delivery has been completed, and the truck arrives at the Ottawa Shelter, where the volunteers call it a night. Everyone is tired, but satisfied that tonight, both the Sharks and the beneficiaries were winners!
For more high-quality photos of the event, visit our FoodBank SA Photo Gallery.
RELATED NEWS: Ntomby Ngema Ntomby Ngema is our Operations Manager in FoodBank Durban. Find out more about her work in this month's Staff Profile. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE |
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