Warm greetings from all of us at FoodBank South Africa!
It has been too long since our last newsletter. We’ve been preoccupied with working feverishly to save FoodBank. Let me explain.
FoodBank rescues food from being wasted. To do this, we must incur expenses such as drivers’ salaries and the costs of running trucks. Last year, we estimate that every R1 worth of nutritious food we distributed required us to spend just 17 cents on these running costs.
Although we’re cost effective, we still need to cover our expenses. Sadly, last year FoodBank didn’t raise enough unrestricted funding to cover its current operating expenses. This is threatening the viability of the project.
We’re tackling this partly by reducing expenses. Unfortunately, this has come at a price for our greatest asset: our people. We have had to reduce our headcount by over a third. This traumatic cost cutting, along with funding from longstanding supporters, has enabled us to keep providing food to the over 1,000 agencies we support. So far.
To protect FoodBank’s future, we need to harness the “power of many”. Please join our new membership scheme.The Fill the Gap Club has tiers of membership to suit every pocket. For example, just R75 per month would allow us to feed at least one meal to hungry South African daily. Joining is as simple as completing the one page form found on www.foodbank.org.za/fillthegap.
Finally, Jeroen de Lijster left us early this year to pursue other interests, but remains a friend of FoodBank. I have been asked to “fill the gap” as acting managing director on a voluntary basis for a second time. I remain convinced that FoodBank represents one of the most effective means of fighting poverty in South Africa. With your help, we can make hunger history for many South Africans. Please don’t wait. Hunger doesn’t.
Kind regards,
Alan Gilbertson
May 2011
In this issue:
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Agency in the spotlight The Ark City of Refuge is home to 750 people who were once destitute. Every month FoodBank gives about seven tonnes of food to The Ark. |
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Club in to make a difference Introducing the Fill the Gap Club – a quick and easy way to make a loving and lasting difference. |
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Philip Morris South Africa pumps up the jam! How the staff of Philip Morris South Africa made 16,000 sandwiches in 45 minutes. |
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Leading the way FoodBank SA is proudly supported by LeadSA. LeadSA is an initiative by Primedia to encourage all South Africans to lead their lives in ways that are exemplary. |
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Millionaires in the making How a bunch of UCT students turned R50 into more than R13,000 in three days – and chose FoodBank as their cause. |
