A van load of food: Smbongiseni Mhlongo of the Diakonia Aids Ministry helps out

Donations of food

RELATED LINKS: Food Bank opened for Joburg's needy THE Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market has set up a Food Bank to help those affected by and infected with HIV/Aids. It will target orphans, the homeless and the aged. Read more Mandela People's Market helps Food Bank THE Mandela People's Market has donated fruit, vegetables and clothes to the needy, through the recently established Food Bank. Read more JFPM extends a helping hand to community THE Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market has a fresh approach to job creation. Read more Joburg's big-hearted volunteers WHEN a group of volunteers from a local clinic in Ivory Park began doing home visits to supply Aids patients with medicines they noticed the residents had no food. No problem - they developed the idea of a food garden, and a year later the Food and Trees for Africa project was born. Read more

Food Bank coordinators Johannah Mashiane and Mokhadi Radebe

Cabbages for a good cause

Food Bank feeds needy EIGHT NGOs received eight truckloads of fruit and vegetables, donated by the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market's agencies through its Food Bank, for the city's needy. November 9, 2005 By Rose Setshoge HUNDREDS of needy people across Johannesburg will be able to put food on their tables after the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market's Food Bank donated eight vanloads of fresh fruit and vegetables to eight local non-governmental organisations. Included in the cargo were melons, green peppers, strawberries, apples, tomatoes, pawpaws, mushrooms, leeks, beetroot and cabbage, all donations from the market's agencies. The Food Bank was put in place by the market and supplies 135 community organisations registered with it. Twice a week fresh foodstuff is donated to different organisations. "The donations make a difference in people's lives because they receive fresh, nutritional foodstuff which is healthy," says the market's corporate communication's manager, Eva Joseph. It aims to provide for the immediate and the basic needs of people affected by or infected with HIV/Aids, providing fresh fruit and vegetables, which are a source of vitamins and nutrition. On Tuesday, 8 November it was the turn of Chain of Life, Twilight Children, Diakonia Aids Ministry, Masibambisane Centre, Missionaries of Charity Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Mews Help Centre, AFM Welfare-Isidingo Community Development Projects and Robin Good. "The people will be happy and proud to receive the foodstuff," said Eva Shokgolo of the Mews Help Centre. "They cannot afford to buy food but need it to remain healthy." Robin Good distributes food among several organisations in Region 7, including Friends for Life, African Children Feeding Scheme, Hope World Wide, Noah, Lerato Love Home, Alexandra Aids Orphans Project East Bank, Banakekeleni and Abangani Enkosini. Some of the NGOs, such as Mews Help Centre and Diakonia Aids Ministries, prepare food packs for people living with HIV/Aids, while the African Children Feeding Scheme provides a home for HIV/Aids orphans. "The donations indirectly assist the organisation financially, because we are able to save and people can eat healthily," said the ministeries administrator, Diane Magagane. "They will be happy to receive this month's food packs because fruit will be included." The ministries provides monthly food packs to 150 people; they include rice, cooking oil, sugar, tinned fish, maize meal, tea bags, and the fresh produce from the Food Bank. Donations are made every Tuesday and Thursday, as well as on some Friday mornings. The NGOs are notified the day before to collect the food. To register with the Food Bank, organisations need to fill in a form, obtainable from the market. They need to meet certain requirements, including that they are involved in the fight against HIV/Aids. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za