Helping feed animals in need

GEORGE NEWS - There is good news for our four-legged friends in need. SA Harvest Garden Route, that already assists humans with nutritional needs, is now also helping to supply in the food needs of animals. It is early days yet, but they will expand in the coming months.

"Our philosophy is to end hunger," the regional manager of the organisation, Carl van Blerk, told George Herald.

SA Harvest gets a lot of food donations every week and this will grow over the next months due to its partnership with farmers.

"We have a very strict policy to make sure the donations are suitable for human consumption. The last thing we want is a situation where a person or a child gets sick from the food we distribute," said Van Blerk.

"When we do receive donations, we check them very carefully to make sure it is safe for human consumption - especially fresh produce and meat. We do sometimes get food that we don't want to take a risk with, but that is still suitable for animal use."

Animal sanctuaries

The organisation has started contacting animal sanctuaries to determine if these donations are suitable for animal consumption. Some food has already been donated to Oudtshoorn Dogs in Need (Odin) and to people in the community who own livestock. This ensures that nothing is wasted.

Van Blerk and his team have seen many emaciated dogs in disadvantaged areas, looking for food. These dogs rely very much on human intervention; usually hunting out scraps.

He stressed that they don't want to take over the job of Odin and the SPCA. "We just act in a supportive role. Any food that people give to us, which is specified for animals, will be passed on to these organisations," he said.

Plans are also in the making to produce dogs biscuits that will be distributed through their network and NGOs in the community.

"We have a very large kitchen that is fully functional and we hope to start producing the biscuits soon. We are currently looking at the best recipes to use, which are nutritional and affordable."

The community will be able to help by making donations, as well as volunteering in the kitchen to make the dog biscuits.

People helping with food parcels at the SA Harvest Garden Route premises in Glaze Street.

Huge progress

Looking back after opening its doors just over a year ago, Van Blerk said the progress of the facility has exceeded their expectations.

It was launched by Van Blerk in December 2020 as the Garden Route Food Pantry, but in November 2021 the facility affiliated with SA Harvest NPC, a national company dedicated to food rescue and security.

So far, in the last 12 months, about 1,2 millions meals have been provided to people in the Garden Route and Klein Karoo. This is about 100 000 meals per month. "It has been far more that we have expected, but this could double in the coming year or even triple. I am very excited going forward."

New plans are in the pipeline to set up satellite branches in all the other municipalities across the district. People will also be able to make donations at these de-centralised branches.

More information about expanding plans will be announced at a later stage. "We want to do a lot more. We need to teach people how to start to generate their own income and benefit from it. Entrepreneurship is the key to eradicating hunger," Van Blerk said.

For further information or donations, please contact Carl van Blerk on 082 826 0731 or e-mail: carl@saharvest.org. Corporate donations are welcome, Section 18A certificates will be issued.

About 1,2 million meals have been distributed in the past year.