Empowering communities to support themselves.
Community Kitchens
While a nutritious meal at the right time can make the world of difference to someone, what happens the next time they’re hungry? And the next? With so many homeless people on the streets of South Africa – and so many more families left vulnerable since the start of the global pandemic and resulting lockdown measures – food security is a huge issue.
Instead of only putting a plaster on the problem, Ladles of Love is looking at more sustainable community projects that could provide lasting solutions in the fight against hunger.
Sure, our soup kitchens and Sandwich Drive go a long way to provide nutritious meals to those who need it most, but our reach is limited.
Instead of focusing only on these initiatives, we’re constantly looking for ways to enable communities to support themselves. To kickstart these sustainable development projects in South Africa, we’re investing in the establishment of community kitchens.
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How does the community kitchen project work?
We work with the Pan African Women’s Organisation to help us vet the work potential beneficiaries do for their community, including how many meals they serve and how often, whether they can collect supplies from our depot, and whether there is available space for a kitchen.
Ladles of Love awards selected beneficiaries with a fully-kitted kitchen of their own, support from our expert team, as well as a training manual that will allow them to prepare a minimum of 1 000 meals a day in a safer, healthier way with new recipes and better cooking methods.
In 2020, we helped set up 21 community kitchens
The grants include all necessary equipment, such as a two-plate gas burner, two large pots, cutting boards, knives, the training manual, and all cleaning equipment. Ladles of Love also provides three months of training to help them use their new kitchens to the best of their ability.
The initial setup, however, doesn’t cover the bulk supplies they need for cooking. Ladles of Love continues to supply them with this where possible.
To ensure that these kitchens result in sustainable community projects that benefit those who need it most, we work with these NPOs to collect data on the work they’re doing, allowing us to measure their impact. Armed with this insight, we can adapt our approach and roll out more projects that support the sustainable solutions our communities need.
Watch this space for more exciting updates on how this particular project is evolving in 2021 – more news is coming soon!
How you can help
Whether you’re acting as an individual or on behalf of a business or corporate entity, there are a number of ways you can support us in establishing these community kitchens, and create sustainable cities in the process:
- Sponsor the entire cost of a kitchen
- Contribute to the cost of some or all of bulk supplies over the 3-month training period
- Contribute to Ladles of Love so we can fund more projects like this
Corporates sponsoring a community kitchen can also engage in team building activities with us by bringing their team to assist us in setting up the kitchen or serving the community. This is a great way to break down barriers, meet new people, and see the impact of their contribution.
