One third of all food produced in South Africa goes to waste, while more than 11 million hungry people are living without the fundamental security of regular meals.
FoodBank South Africa (FoodBank SA) is a registered non-profit organisation established in 2009 to provide a co-ordinated central logistical infrastructure that collects (rescues) edible food from manufacturers and retailers, and ensures that this food is redistributed to help feed thousands of hungry people every day.
‘Our vision is ‘ a South Africa without hunger.’
“It always seems impossible, until it’s done” ~ Nelson Mandela
About Us
Each year billions of kilograms of food go to waste, while at the same time nearly one billion people worldwide do not have enough to eat. FoodBank South Africa (FoodBank SA) sources donated food items and then arranges for these products to reach those who need it most – our Beneficiary Organisations.
These are essentially registered non-profit organisations in the community that provide food to the needy. Beneficiary organisations include orphanages, crèches, senior citizen homes, shelters, community kitchens and HIV/AIDS clinics.
What We Do
One third of all food produced in South Africa is dumped in landfill, while more than 11 million people are hungry. FoodBank SA collects edible surplus food from manufacturers and retailers, and redistributes this food to hundreds of verified NPOs that collectively feed thousands of hungry people daily. FoodBank SA is also a proud member of the Global FoodBanking Network (GFN).
Our Programmes Include:
- Food Rescue: This involves the sourcing, collecting, sorting, storage and distribution of surplus edible food to verified NPOs.
- Procurement: Where funding permits, we purchase basic food items such as sugar beans, rice, maize meal etc.
- Project Management: We implement large-scale feeding programmes on behalf of government and donors wishing to make a greater impact.
- Our ReachWe have staff, warehouses, and logistics infrastructure across the country facilitating the provision of 12.7 million meals annually.
- We rescued 3,800,000 kilograms of food last year.
- We assist hundreds of verified NPOs across the country that feed 91,000 people daily.
- The average cost per meal is only R1.19, a cost-effective solution to the problem of hunger.
You Can Help!
FoodBank SA relies on the generosity of corporates and individuals to implement this cost-effective solution to feed hungry people.
The Role of FoodBank South Africa
FoodBank South Africa (FoodBank SA) is leading a large-scale co-ordinated effort to establish food banks in communities with the highest concentration of food insecure people.
What is a food bank? A food bank is an organisation that acts on behalf of all of the non-profit organisations (we call them "agencies") operating in its area. The food bank rescues and procures food (and essential non-food groceries) usually from donors such as producers, manufacturers, retailers, government agencies, individuals and other organisations.
The food bank defaces the donated product (to protect the brand) and stores it in one of its warehouses. FoodBank SA's warehouses are equipped to safely sort and store all manner of food and non-food items. Food is dispatched from the food bank every day (depending on supply) and delivered to depots in the communities where our agencies are located. In this way, we save agencies the expense of having to travel long distances to fetch food from our warehouses, and FoodBank SA saves itself the cost of delivering to about 1100 agencies countrywide.
By acting on behalf of such a large number of agencies, FoodBank SA achieves huge economies of scale. It cultivates food sourcing and distribution professionalism, which enables it to source and distribute massively increased volumes for agencies, at a far lower cost.