IT has become a local phenomenon – young surfers of Jeffreys Bay, who rose to the occasion when the lockdown, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hit communities and left vulnerable people jobless and without the means to provide food for their families.
Now it has grown to a new dimension.
With the approach that “we all need to look out for each other”, former long board world surfing champ Stevie Sawyer, Toby Schroeder and Chokka Trahms initially set out to get funding, tackle the mammoth task of assembling food parcels and distribute these to all in need of basic nutrition.
Others jumped right in and the mission of Let’s Feed JBay took off, resulting in tons of parcels for those in need and soup kitchens producing warm meals.
Formidable businesswoman Cheron Kraak suggested that a soya blend may make a significant difference in nutritive value of meals, if this was added to the food made at the soup kitchens.
The highly nutritious cereal contains vitamins and minerals, which are vital for the immune-compromised, who have battled to scrape a meal together.
According to Louisa Lightfoot, Kraak approached various individuals and companies in the surfing industry, who donated funds for 10 tons of Corn Soya Blend to be delivered to Jeffreys Bay – sufficient to sustain a minimum of 6 500 people with a nutritious daily meal for one month.
This product was formulated by the World Health Organisation (WHO), together with Roche in Switzerland, to combat worldwide malnutrition of the vulnerable. By adding the soya to a regular bowl of soup, it becomes much more wholesome.
The soya blend will be distributed to all the soup kitchens in the area, clinics, children’s homes, charities and churches.
Lightfoot says, “Let’s Feed JBay is grateful to Kraak, the donors, Billabong for storage, volunteers who decant the cereal and Sonya Hoflerof One Village for distributing to the soup kitchens.
“Our community will be much stronger due to all your efforts.”
