Andre Viljoen, the owner of Woodstock
Brewery visited a soup kitchen during the COVID-19 lockdown
(during alcohol sale restrictions) and he realised that his large industrial
brewery cookers could be re-purposed to make soup at a large and efficient
scale.
Mother Soup quickly gained momentum and the non-profit
organisation GCU (Great Commission United) got involved, to help with admin and distribution. Over 5 million 333ml soup meals with bread were delivered during 18 months of
lockdown, at an average cost of R1.25 ea. Moving out of lockdown a plan to build the factory scale Mother City Kitchen was hatched and Mother Soup handed over operations to GCU.
Joining FoodForward SA’s network in March 2020, GCU is one of our umbrella community kitchen beneficiary organisations that collect monthly food provisions from our Cape Town warehouse to prepare nutritious meals for young children in the community of Heideveld. They support young children and the larger community through literacy education, physical education/coaching, after school programmes and community development initiatives such as food gardens and clean up projects.
As part of community development, not only do they provide nutritious soup and other meals on a daily basis, this operation currently provides skills development opportunities for 25 unemployed regular volunteers and 5 employees volunteers who assist with the preparation and delivery of the soup and sandwiches.
With inflation; ingredients, water and electricity
become costly and MCK currently relies solely on donations and volunteers. The
nutritious vegetables they receive from FoodForward SA contributes
significantly to reducing the cost of making around 4000L of soup every week.
From carrots and potatoes, to butternut, cabbage and sweet potato they make
sure that each meal is tasty and nutritious.
Thank you for your innovative passion and for
inspiring change towards healthier communities.