Thanks to increased donor funding support, FoodForward SA is now reaching close to 500,000 people through its network of 1,000 registered, verifiable beneficiary organisations.
One of the latest beneficiary organisations to join the FoodForward SA network is Ikageng which is based in Gauteng. Ikageng takes care of orphaned and other vulnerable children in-and-around Soweto. By providing for their basic needs, Ikageng relieves some of the pressure and despair faced by children who have lost parents and guardians to AIDS and are forced to take on adult roles.
Ikageng creates a caring and loving environment for children to thrive, by providing them with a home and nutritious food, transferring important life skills, taking care of their educational, transportation and other developmental needs and by offering emotional, social and spiritual support.
Says Ikageng’s CEO Carol Dyantyi, “The involvement of FoodForward SA in our organisation could not have come at a better time, as we also serve over 2,000 beneficiaries in 453 households. While these are mostly orphaned and other vulnerable people, including children infected by HIV and their guardians, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the most vulnerable in our community has forced us to make the necessary shifts and cater for desperate people who knock on our door seeking assistance.”