2+ million meals to vulnerable families

The Viva Covid19 Disaster Management initiative was formed in February 2020, when South Africa registered its first Covid19 case. A small team was registered as Essential Workers and the Viva School Feeding Scheme adjusted to become the largest food-security drive in the organisation's history. As Lockdown loomed, it became clear that the children of the Viva Independent School, Alaska Informal Settlement, Mamelodi East and their extended families, will face serious food shortages and even hunger, if they are not able to come to school, or go to work. Most of the families in informal settlements are dependent on the jobs that was most dramatically impacted by the Lockdown and the subsequent economic meltdown. As soon as the Viva team began making the need known, individuals, churches and companies alike, began responding in the most humbling way. An amount of R 2 500 000.00 was raised and spent on food parcels in addition to donations-in-kind of vegetables, toiletries, cleaning products and meat. Viva was also able to facilitate and host the fundraising efforts of friends of the organisation in Melville Johannesburg, who started a private feeding scheme at their home, that immediately expanded to over 400 parcels weekly, to homeless, vulnerable people and families in the Johannesburg CBD, Melville, Soweto and surrounding areas. The feeding scheme is ongoing, as hunger is an ongoing threat. With Government grants for food has stopped, families are reporting going for days without food. Donations are still needed and the Feeding Scheme will continue as long as there is support for it. We salute our donors, volunteers and teams for the 10 000+ family-sized food parcels that had been distributed since the 24th of March 2020 to the end of January 2022.