Today, 16th October, is World Food Day – a day to acknowledge the lack of available resources around the globe, as well as a call to try and change this fact.
City Lodge Hotel Group joined Food & Trees for Africa in visiting Mother Touch Academy to help plant vegetables and fruit trees for the community. Mother Touch provides care and pre-schooling for 132 neighbourhood children from under one year up to six years old and runs its own sustainable vegetable garden to assist in feeding the children.
ON-GOING SUPPORT
Via online bookings on its website, the City Lodge Hotel Group was able to make a donation of R81,000 to Food & Trees for Africa, ensuring that ten fruit trees were planted, along with herbs and seedlings for vegetables such as spinach, onions, tomatoes and green peppers. Maize will also soon be planted.
“We have been associated with Food & Trees for Africa and Mother Touch for the past three years or so and see this as an important corporate social investment project that is aiding children in the Diepsloot community,” said Peter Schoeman, Divisional Director, Sales & Marketing at City Lodge Hotel Group.
Commenting on behalf of Food & Trees for Africa, Funboy Sebele said: “City Lodge chose Mother Touch as a project and we are very pleased to be involved with them in providing the resources and guidance for this garden. We are also involved in other projects with City Lodge in Atteridgeville and Mpumalanga.”
Petrus Lyson, principal of the academy, said the garden produce not only goes towards feeding the children, but the surplus is given to parents who sometimes assist on the premises. “We are very grateful to City Lodge and Food & Trees for Africa for assisting us in this way. An important element of what we do is also to introduce the concept of sustainability and land as the source of food to our Grade OO to Grade R children. Some of their play tools resemble garden tools to help get across the message,” he said.
What will you be doing for World Food Day? Let us know in the comments!