Proteas captain Temba Bavuma has explained his food drive initiative for women and children, in partnership with the Frida Hartley Shelter, through his Temba Bavuma Foundation.
The Frida Hartley Shelter (FHS) Lunchbox Project is a nutrition initiative that currently provides around 200 meals a day to vulnerable schoolchildren in Yeoville, Johannesburg.
FHS has run the Lunchbox Project for many years, and Bavuma’s Foundation is now taking on responsibility for the project’s sustainability and fundraising to secure its future, with the support of KFC to help strengthen and expand its reach.
Speaking to the media during their latest Lunchbox Project on Tuesday, the Proteas captain explained how their partnership with FHS was established.
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“We’ve established a relationship with the Frida Hartley Shelter, and it’s been about six years now since it was born out of Covid,” Bavuma said.
“I think during Covid, it exposed all their social ills and people not having access to essentials. So, we identified the Frida Hartley Shelter, a shelter for destitute women and children.
“So, we started small with social initiatives, being the provision of food, being the provision of clothing as well as blanket drives, and we maintained that we wanted to be present within the shelter.
“We probably do about three to five food drives a year, but with the idea of strengthening this initiative, we’ve now gotten to a point through the Lunchbox Project where we can contribute to serving learners in the community.
“We serve about 200 to 300 meals a day, and through our partnership with KFC, we’ve been able to bolster what they have and play a big part in it,” the Proteas skipper added.
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FHS Operations Director Cheryl Hlabane said: “So the shelter is for women and children who find themselves homeless due to socio-economic reasons, fleeing an abusive intimate partner, fleeing an abusive home situation.
“I think we are very big on skills development and making sure that the women that come out of here come out whole and having been empowered with skills development so that they’re able to take care of themselves.
“We strongly believe that if you know better, you do better, so that’s what we basically do here,” Hlabane added.
