For a host of learners throughout South Africa, the school closures due to COVID-19 mean they can go hungry. At many underprivileged schools throughout the country, over 9 million learners are supplied with lunch through the National School Feeding Programme, and in the frightening majority of these cases, this is the only substantial meal these children receive all day.
A spark of inspiration from Brad Stern, Chief Marketing Officer at Superiate, has resulted in R25,000 in donations for hungry children – and it all happened in under 48 hours. Having worked with schools in youth marketing through his agency, Superiate, Stern woke up on Monday the 16th of March – the day following the president’s COVID-19 address – wondering what might happen to the learners who rely on the one meal they receive at school.
Seeing no immediate solution in sight, Stern decided that the only course of action to stop thousands of children from going hungry was to make a plan. With that, he quickly launched a website, enlisted the help of his brother, Jared, and Superiate’s Cans With Purpose was born.
Cans With Purposes’s reason for being is simple: to generate funds and donations in order to buy canned food to help curb the imminent hunger among underprivileged South African learners. The initiative gained traction in a matter of hours, raising an unprecedented R25,000 in under two days.
This astounding success has led to more formalised processes being put into place and all proceeds collected by Cans With Purpose will now be donated to Afrika Tikkun for distribution in their community centres in Mfuleni, Cape Town; Orange Farm and Braamfontein in Johannesburg.
Corporates and high-profile celebrities are also lending their support to the cause. Siv Ngesi, Lee-Ann Liebenberg and Jeannie D will be providing social media support, plus Boxer stores, Mobicred and Pick n Pay have agreed to offer their assistance so far.
Superiate and Cans With Purpose co-founder, Brad Stern said, ‘It’s so important that, even in challenging times, we don’t lose sight of the fact that there are others whose basic needs are not being met every day. These children need to get their daily nourishment from somewhere and it’s up to us to help. We’re so grateful for the incredible response so far and are very excited to see Cans With Purpose grow even more.’
As Cans With Purpose continues to gain momentum, Superiate is calling on companies and individuals for additional help to feed South Africa’s hungry school children. Corporates who are committed to reacting positively and assisting our nation during this time are encouraged to join the initiative, with Section 18a certificates being provided for tax purposes.
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Cans With Purpose
https://superiate.com
