IN celebration of the Uitenhage based poultry producer Sovereign Foods’ 70th birthday, various charity organisations and non-governmental organisations are set to benefit from a major community festive meal provision initiative.
The ‘70 Festive Tables of Hope’ initiative will be jointly undertaken by Sovereign Foods and the Express community newspaper group which includes the UD Express as well as the PE Express.
This initiative will provide festive season banquet meals to vulnerable individuals cared for or supported by 70 registered charities and welfare organisations in the metro over December. The beneficiaries will be from around the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, particularly the Uitenhage, Despatch and Port Elizabeth areas.
UD Express readers are invited to nominate beneficiary organisations such as registered NGOs and charities caring for vulnerable communities. The categories include:
- Early childhood development centres (crèches or daycare centres)
- Frail care/caring for the elderly
- Orphanages
- Abandoned children centres
- Child protection
- People with physical or mental disabilities
- Survivors or victims of violence
- Hospices or care centres for the terminally ill
Commenting on the initiative, Thuto Maepa, Sovereign Foods group executive HR and chairperson of the company’s CSI committee, said, “community-based organisations caring for the vulnerable are often financially stretched and under resourced. Bleak statistics this year also showed how the vulnerable skip meals, go hungry and suffer from malnutrition.
“Our company is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. We have decided to focus on a public feeding initiative through banquet meals this December,” said Maepa.
Tasmia Ismail, General Manager: EP Media and Die Burger Oos-Kaap, said, “The festive season is upon us and so it is a time of giving and spreading joy for most of us. At the same time countless families in Nelson Mandela Bay go hungry daily, and more so as we approach year end.
“UD Express and PE Express together with Sovereign Foods, are proud to be a part of the 70 Festive Tables of Hope 2018.
“We will have the privilege of ‘Laying the Tables’ for 70 vulnerable entities making this initiative the biggest of its kind in the Bay. This year we can feel comforted that more families than before will have a meal on the table,” concluded Ismail.
How to nominate
Send your charity’s name, NPO number, name and contact details of the organisation’s head to express.web@media24.com or comment on this post on our Facebook page. Only registered NGOs with valid and current NPO number will be considered.
